ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the interaction between the object given and its purpose and significance in very specific circumstances, using as examples the Russian embassy that Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich (r. 1645–1676) dispatched to London in 1662—led by three ambassadors, Petr Semenovich Prozorovskii, Ivan Afanas'evich Zheliabuzhskii, and Ivan Davydov—and the English embassy headed by Charles Howard, earl of Carlisle, sent to Moscow shortly thereafter by King Charles II (r. 1660–1685). It starts by shifting the attention away from courtly splendour to throw some light on the economic aspect of gift exchange by exploring the role of such unusual gifts as hemp and tin. The chapter discusses the failed gifts and the ceremonies that miscarried tell us about diplomatic practice in intercultural context. It would indeed be tempting to place ceremonial disputes between Russians and Europeans in the arena of cultural conflict according to the excoticizing interpretations in early modern travel literature in order to emphasize the incompatibility of different diplomatic cultures.
