Kovsh

a vessel for drinking and pouring braga (an old Russian national beverage with a low alcoholic content), kvass, and mead, used widely in Rus’ from ancient times through the mid-19th century. It had a rounded, boat-like shape, with one or two tall handles in the form of the head and tail of a bird. The kovsh, which was made of wood (for peasants) and metal (for the elite), was frequently decorated with ornamental carving, painting, engraving, or incrustations of precious stones. The types of kovshi varied from region to region and had various names (korets, nalevka, skopkar’). The kovsh of earliest times was distinguished by the organic unity of its utilitarian and artistic qualities (for example, a wooden kovsh-\\ad\\e, second millennium B.C. from the Gorbunovo Peat Bog, Historical Museum, Moscow). Kovshi of the 16th to the 19th century, which were generally used as keepsakes (the kovsh of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, 1618, Armory, Moscow), lost this unity, and the ornamental qualities became predominant.