Traditional beverages at the court of the nobles of the Belarusian lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the first quarter of the XVII century: tableware (based on the manuscript of Mlechko in the Khreptovich collection from the funds of the Institute

Tableware for beverages of the Belarusian nobles of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the tradition of serving the table were considered based on the materials of the manuscript by Nikolai Mlechko from the Khreptovich collection, deposited in the funds of the Institute of Manuscript of Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine. The types of Old Polish tableware for beverages, common in the fi rst quarter of the ХVІІ century, as well as the specifi cs of their use by the nobles in the daily and ceremonial way are analyzed in the context of the Baroque culture. Traditions and peculiarities of use of the ancestral table silverware, decorated with heraldic symbols, in the Mlechko manor are considered on the base of the documents of tableware inventories. When comparing in the descriptions the elements of silver products, it was established that they are typical objects of Baroque jewelry with their inherent decorativeness and pomposity. Attention is also paid to the use of fashionable glassware for beverages, which got wide popularity in European countries in that period. The sources of receipt and transportation of various types of bewerage tableware to the Mlechko’s Kholopenichi estate, as well as their contacts with the Baltic trade and cultural centers have been analyzed. Inventory lists of bewerage tableware contained in the manuscript of N. Mlechko are a multidimensional source for research. The data recorded in them make it possible to identify innovations in the decorative and applied arts of the Baroque and their reception in the everyday culture of the Belarusian nobles (as exemplifi ed by its representatives the Mlechko) of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the ХVІІ century. At the same time, the lists contain valuable heraldic and historical-genealogical information regarding the Belarusian and Lithuanian aristocratic families who lived in this period in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.