A small kalgan jasper tazza, circa 1840

This is a fine example of Russian craftsmanship and displays the artisan's great skill at cutting and polishing rare stones and marbles.  The Russians were aided by the discovery of rich deposits of semi-precious stones in the Urals and further east in Siberia towards the end of 18th century. Blocks of Korgon porphyry, rhodonite Kalgan and Aushkul japser and Neviansk marble were quarried and sent to St Petersburg to be cut and polished into objects.

The Imperial government established the first factory at Peterhof in the late 18th century probably employing Italian craftsmen.  Subsequently, the administration set up tow further factories at Ekaterinburg and Kolyvan in the Urals where the locally trained stone cutters could work larger pieces of stone, These were active through the third quarter of the 19th century.  (A. Chenevière, Russian Furniture: the Golden Age 1780-1840, New York, 1988, p 263, fig. 286).