Project
"Decorative metal: metal elements of traditional Ukrainian neck jewelry"
Cheprags
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In the Hutsul and Bukovyna regions, special brass clasps, the so-called “cheprags”, were used to connect zgardas - two, mostly round, plates decorated with a minted or lace pattern: wheel-shaped, diamond-shaped, square, or in the form of elongated curls with rounded branches.
Structurally, the cheprags consist of two parts: one part with a hook and the other with a hole for the hook. According to the shape of the components, the bonnets were divided into several types: round solid bonnets with oval protrusions on the sides, round slotted lace cheprags resembling a wheel with straight or oblique spokes, rosette, diamond-shaped slotted cheprags with circles-projections on the tops, figured slotted cheprags, cross-shaped, square slotted cheprags with rounded corners, in the form of elongated curls with rounded processes.
At first glance, the disproportion between the size of the cheprags and the zgardas is striking. As a rule, cheprags are large, completely unjustified by their utilitarian function. Some of them reach 6-7 cm in diameter, which indicates their special place among neck jewelry. A chepraga with solar symbols was supposed to protect a person from evil spirits.
Therefore, in the central part of the chepraga's decor, as well as in zgardas, various variants of solar symbols were mostly placed: a convex cone in the center surrounded by rays, a wheel with eight, six or four spokes, concentric circles, diamonds, rosettes, shaded triangles with a ring on the top, etc.
Mostly, cheprags were used to fasten shelests and zgardas made of metal springs or tubes or Venetian glass, coral, garnet, carnelian, etc. At the same time, rare artifacts of the 19th century include a ribbon gerdan strung with beads with cheprags, illustrated by Volodymyr Shukhevych in his monograph "Hutsulshchyna".
We can assume that as a result of ideological persecution caused by the introduction of Christianity, the pagan medallion with a solar symbol moved from its usual place of wearing on the front of the neck/chest to the back of the neck and acquired the practical function of cheprags, while retaining its original meaning as a talisman.
The photographs are from the collections of the Museum of Ethnography and Art Crafts in Lviv
The photographs are from the collections of the Josaphat Kobrynsky National Museum of Hutsulshchyna and Pokuttya in Kolomyia
The photographs are from the collections of the Lviv Skansen (Shevchenko's Grove)
The photographs are from the collections of the National Museum of History of Ukraine
The photographs are from the collections of the Ivano-Frankivsk Museum of Local Lore
The photographs are from the collections of the Andrey Sheptytsky National Museum in Lviv
Chepragas from Hoberman's publication "Art of the Hutsuls" (1980)
Chepragas from Volodymyr Shukhevych's publication "Hutsulshchyna"
Drawings of chepragas by Severin Obst from the publication “Views of Household Crafts. Metal Products of Villagers in Rus”
A page from the book “Views of Household Crafts. Metal Products of Villagers in Rus”. Zgardy
Chepragas from Liubov Sukha's publication ‘Artistic Metalwork of Ukrainians of the Eastern Carpathians in the Second Half of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries’ (1959)
Project "Decorative metal: metal elements of traditional Ukrainian neck jewelry" is supported by the European Union under the House of Europe programme.
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