Malachite first came into use in the 1780's as the craftsmen at the Peterhof stonecutting factory developed techniques for creating large scale objects out of malachite. Its fragile structure meant that it had to be veneered in fragments on a solid ground to create an object, the so-called 'mosaic technique'. The discovery of large deposits on the western slopes of the Ural Mountains spurred a passion for malachite objects in Russia (see A. Chenevière, Russian Furniture and The Golden Age 1780-1840, 1988, pp. 264-269). Numerous similar examples in the Hermitage can be seen in contemporary watercolors reproduced in A. Voronikhina, 19th Century Watercolors of the Hermitage, Moscow, 1983, pls. XXII and XXXIV.