Kostromin Mikhail Andreyevich was an eighteenth-century Nizhny Novgorod merchant and Old Believer, known above all as a patron whose funds enabled the young mechanic Ivan Kulibin to create the famous egg-shaped clock presented to Catherine II in 1767.[1]
Connection with Kulibin and the "Egg" Clock
Kostromin commissioned and financially sponsored Ivan Kulibin's first major work: with his money, a unique egg-shaped pocket watch was made, with a chiming mechanism, music, and a theatrical scene inside. The watch was presented to Empress Catherine II in 1767 during her journey along the Volga and brought Kulibin widespread fame. Kostromin's patronage itself links him to the Nizhny Novgorod merchant milieu, which produced a number of prominent figures in Russian Old Belief.[1]
Place in the Old Believer Merchant Tradition
Kostromin is counted among the Nizhny Novgorod Old Believer merchants of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries whose names have been preserved in the history of the region, alongside such figures as the Blinovs, the Bugrovs, Kurbatov, and Sirotkin. This milieu was distinguished by a combination of commercial activity with support for cultural and religious undertakings.[1]
Sources
- Historical Encyclopedia of Nizhny Novgorod — Category: Old Believers of the Nizhny Novgorod Land (archive)