Bouquet w/ Green Background Oval Zhostovo Tray

The Zhostovo trade arose at the beginning of the 19th century, when in a series of villages near Moscow and villages from the former Troitsky district (nowadays, the Mitishchensky neighborhood of the Moscow region) - Ostashkov, Khlebnikov, Troitsky and others – a craft appeared that consisted of painted lacquer goods made from papier-mache. During the second half of the 19th century, papier-mache was replaced by iron. The most common design was the bouquet, laid in the center of a tray and framed on the sides by tiny goldish patterns. Today, Zhostovo craftsmen are still known for their individual style of painting and the extraordinary composition of the flowers they create. Every tray is hand-painted from the eye and the heart, without the use of stencils. Although the artistic composition of trays may be similar, the artist intentionally paints a new, unique masterpiece each time.