3-005-946 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Natives of Siberia Being Brought Under the Tsar's Rule. Kissing the Ataman's Saber in Expression of Obedience and Loyalty, 19th century. One of 21 watercolors (out of an original 27) from an album relating to the history of the Siberian Cossacks held by the Rare Books Department of the Russian State Library in Moscow. The album was created as a gift for the future Tsar Nicholas II (1868-1918, reigned 1895-1917), Most August Ataman of All Cossack Voiskos (Commander of all Cossack troops, a title bestowed by Nicholas I), and presented to him in the summer of 1891 on his return to Saint Petersburg through Siberia from a trip to the Russian Far East. The theme of the album is Cossack history east of the Ural Mountains, beginning with the victory of the Cossack hetman (or ataman) Ermak Timofeevich (died 1585) over Khan Kuchum in 1582 and continuing with subjects from more than three centuries of Russian history.