Pre-revolutionary HR, or Forgotten professions on the canvases of Russian artists. Ancient Russian professions Little masters in Rus'

The ancient crafts of Rus' are one of the pillars on which the unique culture of our state rests. They originate in primitive society, when all activity was collective, and the tools of labor were the simplest. However, already in those days our ancestors were characterized by a desire for beauty. Tools and household items created together were decorated with ornaments and given a special shape. As a rule, all, as they would say now, decorative elements had magical properties: they protected, attracted good luck. East Slavs were similar in this regard to other tribes. The ancient crafts of Rus' were distinguished by special techniques and techniques, and original motifs. By the time the Kyiv state was created, our ancestors were already masters in many types of applied art.

Blacksmith - artisan and sorcerer

It is not difficult to understand from numerous tales, legends and sayings which ancient crafts were held in special esteem in Rus'. Often in stories there is a blacksmith who makes a miracle sword for the hero; often he is endowed with magical abilities and wisdom.

Metal processing in Rus' was indeed one of the most sought-after skills. She was one of the first to develop an independent craft. The blacksmith was revered and respected, and iron was considered a protective material, capable of protecting its owner not only from evil people, but also from evil spirits, if properly processed and treated with respect.

The development of crafts in Kievan Rus reached amazing heights: our ancestors knew almost all modern types of metal processing. The most commonly used methods were forging, filigree, niello, casting and embossing.

Subtle art

Jewelry making deserves special mention. It also reached significant heights in Rus'. The favorite techniques were the already mentioned filigree (filigree), niello, as well as granulation and enamel (enamel). The creations of masters from the times of Kievan Rus and later are sometimes amazing. For example, enamel resembled a mosaic with a pattern so carefully painted that in the eyes of the depicted characters one could distinguish a dark pupil and a light white. Similar paintings were created from pieces of colored glass. They were pounded and mixed with a small amount of water. The resulting mass was filled into the parts of the products and then they were baked several times. As a result, the enamel was fused with the metal.

Metallic lace and splashes

The filigree was an openwork ornament made of the finest gold or silver wire. Various jewelry, boxes and some other household items were made using this technique. Filigree gave them airiness and special lightness. Without exaggeration, such products can be called made of metal lace.

Grain was also a frequent decoration of various products. It resembled tiny drops splashed across the surface of the jewelry. The skill of the craftsmen knew no bounds: the thickness of the balls often did not exceed 0.4 mm.

The niello was an alloy of silver and sulfur. When making jewelry, a design was scratched onto a metal blank. Then everything was filled with rabble and sent to bake. Under the influence of high temperature, the alloys were combined, the pattern was filled with a mixture of sulfur and silver. Afterwards, the master only needed to remove the excess areas of the niello. The resulting products were distinguished by the contrast of the noble shine of the metal and the matte surface of the design.

Working with clay

The second most popular craft in Rus' after metal processing was pottery. Initially, dishes and other utensils were made by hand. However, crafts in Rus' developed quickly, and in the 9th-10th centuries. The Slavs already used the potter's wheel. As a result, pottery products spread throughout the state. Pottery workshops are no longer rare. Each of them created products that were somehow different from the creations of other artisans. The masters adhered, expressing themselves modern language, own style. The differences could relate to technological aspects: temperature and firing time, clay composition, or decor: colors used, shape features, various additional decorating elements.

With the adoption of Christianity, crafts in Rus' began to develop in accordance with Orthodox canons. Potters, except traditional toys and dishes, they began to produce various items necessary for the church, and tiles - decorative tiles that were used as decoration.

Live material

It is difficult to imagine the ancient crafts of Rus' without wood carving. It also arose among our ancestors a very long time ago. Toys and furniture, interior items and homes were decorated with carvings. Wood was considered a warm, living material. Like metal, it was capable of protecting, saving from harm, therefore wooden crafts were found everywhere in the ancient state. The availability of material also played a huge role in this. Dwellings were built from wood, spinning wheels and spindles, toys and cradles, sleighs and arches were made. At all times in Rus' he was treated with great honor. The master tried to understand the soul contained in a piece of wood, and, when creating an everyday or sacred object, to reveal it as much as possible, without adding unnecessary things of his own.

Novgorodians were considered the most skilled carvers. In the territory ancient city Some time ago, an impressive monument of wooden architecture was found: an eleven-meter column dating back to the 11th century. Along its entire length it is decorated with carvings, the motifs of which are never repeated.

Forgotten tricks

As often happens, with the advent of new materials and technologies, outdated knowledge fades into the background, sometimes completely lost, sometimes remaining only in the form of rare products that have not been destroyed by time. Many crafts of Kievan Rus became impoverished in this way. For example, today few people know that wood carving, having served Christianity, was used not only to create the interior and exterior decoration of churches. Masters made iconostases and icon cases - this is a fairly well-known fact. The art of wooden icon painting has been lost in time. Very little is known today about the creation of images of saints using wood carving.

Stone craftsmen

Crafts in Rus' were associated with the most different materials, common in the territory In addition to those already mentioned, the craftsmen used stone. Products made from it were not inferior in elegance and beauty to wooden creations. buildings were decorated, most often built of white limestone, slate or marble. It was rarely found on smaller objects. Bone combs, as well as icons, were common in Rus'. Craftsmen worked on creating small images of saints. Such icons could be worn around the neck, hanging from a strap. Stone carvings often complemented church tiles.

Position of the masters

Ancient crafts in Rus' were valued differently. They were divided into two groups. The revered ones included jewelry (goldsmithing), icon painting, and some others. The “dirty” ones included, for example, pottery.

In most cases, craftsmen worked to order. Craftsmen belonged to different strata of society. In the cities one could meet free craftsmen. They were engaged in blacksmithing, jewelry, coining and icon painting. Dependent artisans and serfs lived in princely and boyar courts, estates and estates. Various masters could also be found in monasteries.

Creations of women's hands

It was in the monasteries that such ancient crafts of Rus' as sewing and weaving developed most of all. They were handled by women. The products of craftswomen of that time still amaze with their beauty. Fabrics were made from hemp, linen or wool. The process of producing fabric became much easier after the advent of the horizontal loom. This happened at the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries.

A common type of women's needlework was patterned weaving: braided weaving, embroidery on canvas, “silk hoop work” (sewing using a hoop) and so on. Craftswomen decorated household items with various patterns. Old Russian sewing was often exported by merchants to other countries. There it also enjoyed universal admiration.

Temporary decline

A period of prosperity in history is most often replaced by years, and sometimes centuries, of decline. It was in this state that the crafts of Rus' were in the 14th century, during the most lasting rule of the Mongol-Tatar khans. Many masters died during battles in an attempt to defend their hometowns. During the existence of the Mongol-Tatar yoke in Rus', the development of jewelry almost completely stopped, the production of enamel, filigree and grain ceased. Other types of craft suffered no less. However, the revival of applied art began already in the next, 15th century.

Blooming again

The period from the 15th to the 17th century was the time of strengthening of the new Russian state. The center of unification of the principalities was Moscow. The ancient crafts that existed in Rus' began to gain strength again. The nobility sought to surround themselves with exquisite objects, luxury and wealth. Craftsmen engaged in stone or wood carving, weaving and embroidery, and jewelry came to the court of the prince, and then the king.

Commodity-money relations are also developing. As a result, crafts in Rus' in the 16th century became the main source of income for residents of many cities. Handicraft arts and crafts are gradually being formed. The oldest among them is considered to have arisen in the 16th-17th centuries in the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. Here craftsmen were engaged in wood and bone carving, and a little later a toy craft arose.

World star

After the 15th century, almost all crafts in Rus' began to actively develop. Children are especially familiar with Khokhloma painting and Dymkovo toys. These types of artistic crafts are still very popular today, not only here, but also abroad.

Khokhlomoy enriched the crafts in Rus' in the 17th century. This type of painting was used to decorate various types of furniture. Khokhloma is well recognizable due to its traditional color scheme: red, black and green on a gold background. The painting masters had their secrets. For example, for the background, not gold powder was applied to a wooden blank, but a mixture of tin and silver. Then the product was coated with a special composition and baked several times in the oven. In this way, the desired golden hue was achieved. Khokhloma painting always completely covered the product: the wood was not noticeable at all.

Bright and unique

Another famous artistic craft that apparently originated in this period is that it received its name from its place of origin. The Kirov settlement of Dymkovo was famous for its red clay. There are no products in the whole world like this bright and cheerful toy. Interestingly, the production technology is quite simple, and if desired, such a figurine can be made independently.

The crafts of Ancient Rus' are not forgotten today. You could even say that they are going through a new stage of development. There is a revival of interest in folk traditions of ancient times: beliefs, costume, customs and artistic crafts. Crafts are actively studied both in relevant specialties at universities and independently. Handicrafts are in great demand today, and therefore craftsmen are happy to turn to traditional crafts. At the same time, the technology is undergoing various changes: new compositions, paints, bases and fixatives are used, and in some cases, electrical devices. On the other hand, in some cases the whole remains unchanged.

It should be noted that studying the question of what crafts developed in Rus' is important for understanding the original Russian culture and helps to penetrate its spirit. The revival of interest in this topic indicates the relevance of such processes. We can say that crafts in Rus' (photos of products that fill the Internet in abundance only confirm this) are still alive and continue to develop.

The Russian people never sat idle, except that on holidays they allowed themselves to relax a little.

There were professions in Rus' that were respected and rare, complex and mysterious. Some have not reached our times, others have received a new birth, and others have completely disappeared. What was the labor market like in Rus'?

Spitters

The spitters did not earn their living by doing what you might think. They sowed turnips. Why spitters? Yes, because turnip seeds are very small, more than a million in one kilogram. Sow in the usual way they are simply impossible. So they came up with the idea of ​​spitting out the seeds. This profession was one of the most honorable in Rus', and good spitters were worth their weight in gold.

Tartekurs

In Rus' this profession was quite widespread. Tar men drove tar from birch bark. Tar was a universal product used both for lubricating wheel axles, locks or boots, and for impregnating sleepers and lubricating the lower rims of wooden log houses to protect them from moisture and water. But the main thing for which tar was needed was for the production of black (otherwise known as Russian) yuft, a specially crafted leather with a pleasant resinous smell, which was used to make shoes and harnesses. Resin smokers worked next to the tar makers - they extracted resin from coniferous trees using distillation.

Coachmen and cab drivers

The profession was so popular that it left a huge cultural layer in Russian art and literature. It is necessary to distinguish: coachmen are like modern drivers of intercity routes, and cab drivers are city taxi drivers. Coachmen transported not only people, but also postal parcels and correspondence, as well as various cargo, such as goods for stores. Among the cab drivers there was their own classification. Thus, vankas represented economy class services. These were mostly people from villages who sometimes did not have their own transport. They had to rent both a horse and a carriage. The vankas charged 30–70 kopecks for the trip. Freight taxis - draymen - worked on heavy-duty horses. Wealthy people hired reckless drivers who had well-fed and beautiful horses, plus very comfortable carriages. Reckless drivers valued their work at 3 rubles. In addition to private owners, city cab drivers also worked - “darlings”, or “frisky”. They were easy to recognize by their uniform and license plate. You could order a city cab driver on a special exchange. Such a trip rarely cost more than a ruble.

Mowing grass has long been perceived in Rus' as a common task. However, the main “strike force” was still the mowers - usually very strong and hardy men. If there were not enough of them, both women and old people went out to mow. By the way, some older people could give young guys a head start. They started mowing at the first dew, which moistened the grass and made it easier for the scythe to move. A certain position of the hands, a swing of the braid, its direction - there are many subtleties in this work. How well the mower worked directly depended on what product the cattle in the barn and the people on the table would receive. Usually, while mowing, they sang together, cheerfully, thereby creating the necessary rhythm of work, because if one of the mowers hesitates, trouble is not far away. Haymaking is one of the most popular subjects in Russian art. Easy to mow, you say. Of course, but only if we're talking about not about cutting the grass.

Peddlers

Peasants who traded throughout Rus' were called peddlers, walkers, or ophens. They carried their goods (usually various useful little things) in large popular print boxes, hence the name - peddlers. Their own society, their own code, their own concept of honor and even their own slang, which only people of this profession knew, distinguished peddlers from many other Russian workers. Word formation in the Ofeni language took place different ways: Russian words were distorted beyond recognition, replaced in sentences with borrowings from other languages, and often simply made up. The attitude of the people towards the Ofens varied. On the one hand, ofeni were often the only sources of news, tellers of tales and gossip, on the other hand, the Russian people somehow always distrusted people offering to buy something.

Buffoons

The king was entertained at court by a jester, and people in the streets and squares were amused by buffoons. Buffoons especially loved to work during fairs and various folk festivals. Still would! The people were kind and could give you a new hat for a good joke. Buffoons were jacks of all trades: wits, musicians, singers, and performers of various skits. Do people need thrills? Here's a bear for you! Do you want sharpness and agility? The buffoon is ready to tirelessly perform all kinds of acrobatic steps. Each buffoon had his own role: comedian, funnyman, prankster, buffoon. As you know, the authorities did not really favor people of this profession, but it was quite difficult to catch buffoons. They did not stay in one place, wandering from one city to another.

Mourners

In Rus', not a single ritual event, be it a wedding or a funeral, was performed without mourners or wailers. They learned to cry professionally from an early age, because crying had to have a special melodic quality. The more piercingly the mourner moaned, the greater the reward she ultimately received. If in most cases the relatives shed tears for the deceased sincerely, then not all brides, saying goodbye to their parents, managed to truly grieve for their maiden life. So women were invited who were capable of shedding tears for hours on end, accompanying the crying with various kinds of lamentations. Mourners were also present during the farewell of recruits. Mourners were a mandatory attribute; their absence, for example, during a funeral was considered shameful.

5 City of Masters

The names of ancient Russian cities come from the names of their founders: the city of Vladimir is named after Vladimir Monomakh, a Russian prince, Yaroslavl - in honor of another famous prince, Yaroslav the Wise. But still, the names of most cities came from the names of the rivers on which they were built. For example, Moscow on the Moscow River.

The names of the cities were also given to the professions of their inhabitants. Even a small town in the old days was famous for some kind of trade or craft. For example, in the town of Bronnitsy in the Moscow region there lived gunsmiths who made armor, and in Mytishchi, another town near Moscow, a toll (duty) was collected. The names of streets in ancient Russian cities also mostly came from the occupations of their inhabitants - Oruzheynaya, Kuznetskaya, Myasnitskaya, Goncharnaya, Kozhevnicheskaya. These names have been preserved in modern cities.

Ancient clothing: 1 – hairdresser; 2, 3 – gloves; 4 – caftan

Tailor at work. From a 16th century drawing.

Shoe shop in Moscow. From an engraving of the 17th century. Antique shoes: 1, 2 – boots; 3 – shoes; 4 – piston

Craftsmen fed and clothed the townspeople. These were pancake makers, bakers, butchers, sytniks, and costume craftsmen who sewed clothes. Tanners processed leather and made various items from it, including shoes. Carpenters built houses and made wood products. Blacksmiths and foundry workers knew the secrets of forging and casting metal products. The craftsmen were very proud of their skills; it was not without reason that they said: “There are many craftsmen, but few masters.”

Peasant and artisan of the 12th century. Reconstruction

Let's imagine a bearded blacksmith, with his hair cut in a circle, dressed in a caftan just above the knees, an apron and boots. His main weapon is a hammer and tongs. He knows for sure that it is impossible to overexpose the molten metal at high temperatures, that the finished product must be removed from the furnace in time. Every blacksmith understood that if the metal cooled, it would become hard and could no longer be forged. This is where the modern saying “Strike while the iron is hot” comes from, which means “get things done on time.” And so that outsiders would not interfere with such a complex task as metal casting, the blacksmiths spread various false rumors. The onlookers dispersed, and it was possible to calmly get on with business. This is where the word “flood” comes from, i.e. “to deceive.”

The potters' craft was difficult. They made pots from clay rims, which they placed one on top of the other, leveled and molded together. At first they were made by hand, and later they were invented Potter's wheel- a special rotating device with which the walls of the dishes could be sculpted even. When the dishes were ready, they were dried in the sun and fired in ovens. The craftsmen were very proud of their products, giving affectionate names to individual parts of the vessels - spout, neck, handle, body, leg.

If the life of a city artisan was spent in the workshop, then the merchant spent all his time at the auction. Oriental goods were in particular demand - peppers, raisins, nuts, glassware, cloth, which was bought in large skeins - pieces. Russian people brought honey, wax, leather, furs, and linen to the market. In addition to goods, merchants also brought fresh news, stories about overseas countries and customs.

In addition to artisans and merchants, ancient cities lived coachmen- people who kept horses to transport people, mail and goods. Their houses stood near the most important roads leading out of the city. There were also serving military people in the city fortresses - archers, gunners. They served as city guards, and in Peaceful time They were also engaged in crafts and trade.

Church ministers also lived in the cities - priests And monks. The latter lived in monasteries near the city or in farmsteads in the city itself. There were a lot of churches in the cities, on almost every street. Near churches and near the walls of monasteries one could see a huge number of beggars.

The inhabitants of ancient cities bore little resemblance to modern townspeople. They dressed completely differently. Do you remember the fairy tale by A.S. Pushkin about the fisherman and the fish? The old man did not recognize his old woman when she became a rich woman:

His old woman is standing on the porch

In an expensive sable jacket,

Brocade kitty on the crown,

Pearls weighed down the neck,

There are gold rings on my hands,

Red boots on her feet.

Boyars and rich merchants wore wide, loose clothes of bright colors, embroidered with gold and pearls. The sleeves and hems of caftans were necessarily trimmed with materials of a different color. Large collars decorated with precious stones were fastened separately.

Sagittarius of the 17th century.

Moscow dandy of the 17th century.

1. Kaftan 2. Smart caftan 3. Feryaz 4. Okhaben

Wide and long (to the toe) clothes in the old days were called arable lands. They were made of silk or fine cloth, lined, with a slit in the front and very long sleeves. Holes for the arms were made under the sleeves, and the sleeves themselves were tied with a knot at the back. The opashni were decorated with beautiful buttons and necklace- collar embroidered with gold and pearls. Apparently, this rich summer outfit was worn when leaving the house, in good weather. They wore it “to smell”, that is, in a cape (hence the name “to smell”, as well as the word “to smell”).

In the 16th century appeared fairy– a wide and long festive dress without a collar. Feryaz were made of silk, velvet, brocade, and lined with fur. The front of the feryaz was decorated samples- buttonholes embroidered with silk and gold. Initially, the feryaza had ties, which were later replaced with buttons. The feryazi, like the opashnya, had long sleeves. A hand was threaded through one of them, gathered into folds, and the other was left hanging to the floor. Sometimes the sleeves were tied at the back.

gorlat hats and cap. Engraving. XVII century

Rich townspeople were very fond of fur coats. They were worn even in not very cold weather to show off their wealth. And if it was hot, then a beautiful sable collar was attached to the clothes. Fur coats were always sewn with the fur inside and covered with cloth or silk on top. On the sides of the front slit, stripes were made from a different material. Loops and buttons were sewn onto them. In the old days, fur coats were usually long, wide, with turn-down collars.

The subject of panache was not only furs, but also buttons, which in those days were much more expensive than the dress itself. But the most fashionable item of clothing was the stand-up collar - trump. The word “trump” in the old days meant “to put on airs.”

Trump. Parsun "Mikhail Vasilievich Skopin-Shuisky". XVII century

An indispensable part of clothing in Rus' was the belt. Only children could go outside without a belt. Rich people specially wore their belts high under their chests to make their bellies stick out. In Ancient Rus', to deprive a person of his belt meant to dishonor him (hence the well-known expression “unbelt”, which meant “disgrace”).

The most common belt in Rus' was the sash. It was wide and long; it was wrapped around the waist several times. The ends were sometimes left free, and sometimes tucked in from the sides. According to Asian custom, a dagger hung behind the sash.

The tall hat was called throaty, because they sewed it from the skins from the throats of animals. It was an indispensable attribute of the attire of a rich city dweller.

The townswomen also did not lag behind the men. They wore even wider and brighter clothes. The long sleeves were folded back; hands could not be inserted into them. The girls wore crowns and wove ribbons into their braids. And women carefully tucked their hair under a scarf or headdress - Kiku. Kika had a high forehead that widened upward - brow It was usually made of silver sheet, covered with elegant fabric and decorated with gold, pearls and precious stones. Back of the kick - slap on the head– was made of dense material, sable or beaver fur. A fringe was fastened along the edge of the kiki, most often made of pearls, which was called below.

Rich townspeople and townswomen wore soft boots on their feet, while the poor wore bast shoes. The expression “no brainer” meant that the person was not a simple person.

Vintage women's headdresses

N. Konchalovskaya in her book “Our Ancient Capital” describes the clothes that Muscovites used to wear:

Oh, you guys are great,

Long-sleeved merchants!

And boyars and nobles,

Townspeople and peasants,

Who is in shirts and pants,

Who is wearing short zipuns?

And there were such dandies:

They wore a long hook,

Sleeves to the ground

The dust was sweeping down the street.

And in winter, in frost, in Moscow

They put on a fur coat or two.

And the noblewoman used to

She wore three fur coats.

They like to dress up on holidays

Our Russian girls:

Necklaces, earrings, beads,

Ribbons in braids reaching to the ground.

And the youngsters are under the rug

They hide their hair:

In the old days there was a braid

Only girlish beauty!

The clothing of the artisans was simple: shirts, portages and caftans. The ports were sewn from thin cloth - trukishish and tucked into boots (the word “trousers” comes from this name). The hats were made from felted cloth. They cut their hair in a circle and wore beards.

1. Letnik 2. Kika and soul warmer 3. Summer clothes of wealthy women

Telogrey

The wives and daughters of artisans, like peasant women, loved to wear sundresses. They put it on top telogrey and soul warmers - wide and short jackets, and on the head - a kichka or kokoshnik. It was covered with bright fabric and embroidered. They also wore scarves - flies. City women loved glass and copper bracelets, bone pendants for headdresses, hoops and rings made of wood and bone.

And the artisan, and the merchant, and the boyar - all the townspeople necessarily had a vegetable garden, a plot of field and a barn with cows, pigs, and birds. And not somewhere outside the city, but in the city itself. In addition to the vegetable garden, the city dweller always had a garden, which he loved very much and which he carefully looked after. Vegetables and fruits that the ancient cities were famous for growing are still known: “Vladimirka” - cherries from Vladimir, Nizhyn cucumbers, Pavlovsk melons and watermelons.

In the old days there were special hay auctions in cities. The fact is that the cities had their own hayfields and pastures for livestock. The urban landscape was characterized by stretched nets and fishermen sitting on the banks of a river or lake. It is no coincidence that fish were depicted on many ancient coats of arms of cities. (In general, coats of arms can tell us a lot about the occupations of the inhabitants of the ancient city.)

Each city dweller, therefore, in addition to his main profession, was also engaged in peasant labor, providing his family with everything necessary. That's why old cities looked so much like villages.

Noblewoman of the late 17th century.

Questions and tasks

1. List all those who lived in the old Russian city. What were they doing? How did the townspeople dress before?

2. Try to draw the coat of arms of one of the Russian cities. Is it possible to determine the occupations of the townspeople by the painted coat of arms?

3. What craft would you like to do if you were in the place of a city dweller-artisan? Fashion out of clay or plasticine a product that was made by artisans of this profession.

4. Rewrite, insert the missing letters and explain the meaning of the words:

p-artisans

k-zhevenniki

lieutenants

p-yard

m-stera-arable land

to stare

Mr. hat

s–r–fan

k–koshnik

5. Why do you think the riddle “Seventy clothes, all without fasteners” arose in the Russian city? How is it related to the habits of the townspeople?

6. Remember the songs, jokes and riddles about Russian clothing. How did they treat clothing in the old days?

I'm bored, girl

Alone in the bright room

Sew patterns with silver!

And without my dear mother

My favorite sundress

I put it on in the evening.

In a multi-colored round dance

I played free

And she laughed like a child!..

A. I. Polezhaev. Sundress

You, Nazar, you, Nazar,

Go to the market

Buy me a sundress:

Neither long nor short -

Don't go to the forest

No catching rabbits.

7. Guess Russian folk riddles about clothing. You can draw the answers. Which of these items of clothing were worn in the old days?

1. I was walking along the road

I found two roads

I went for both.

2. I’m sitting on horseback,

I don't know who

I'll meet an acquaintance,

I’ll jump off and pick you up.

3. Hoop during the day,

At night a snake.

Guess: belt, hat, pants.

Interesting fact. Do you know the history of the origin of popular words and expressions? For example, today you can hear the words: “Don’t drive me crazy!” It turns out that we owe their appearance to artisan blacksmiths. They gradually heated the metal to such an extent that, as it became red-hot, it turned from red to white. Then they gave him a hammer the required form. The expression “to hack on your nose” meant (and still means) “to remember.” And in the old days, “nose” was the name for a tablet that illiterate people carried with them in order to make various notes and notches on it. “Notch on the nose” meant “to make notches on the board so as not to forget.”