Zhostovo painting
Photograph by timlewisnmon Flickr.
The edges of a tray are painted with a light golden ornament called уборка (uborka). Today, it is called the Zhostovo Factory of Decorative Painting (Жостовская фабрика декоративной росписи). . Irises painting
A finished tray is then covered with three layers of light lacquer and polished to brilliance. In the late 19th – early 20th century, the Zhostovo painting handicraft fell into decline. Subsequent development of the Zhostovo painting handicraft was stylistically related to porcelain and enamel painting techniques, used by factories near Moscow, flower motifs on printed cotton, produced by the Ivanovo factories, and Lukutin miniature (see Fedoskino miniature). Zhostovo painting is a handicraft of painting on metal trays, preliminary coated with a few layers of priming (putty) and oil varnish (usually, black).
Painting is done in a few consecutive energetic and firm strokes with a soft brush and oil paints, richly diluted with linseed oil. The most widely used motif of the Zhostovo painting is a bunch of mixed garden and wild flowers, which is simple and laconic in its essence.
During the Soviet times, it was brought back to life after a number of artels had united themselves into one called Металлоподнос (Metal Tray) in 1928.