The Russian artistic works in metal, being an indispensable part of an integral esthetical system, acquired recognizable traits in the second half of the XVII century, taking an important position in the Russian applied art with its lace-like ornamentation and polychrome color. It was in the second half of the XVII century when centers where artworks in metal were produced, such as Moscow, Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Nizhnii Novgorod, Kholmogory, Arkhangelsk, Ustyug Veliky, Solvychegodsk, were established and won recognition.

The section of our collection devoted to the artistic metalwork of the USSR has no analogues among other museums in the quantity and quality of material represented. Our collection of the Soviet period both presents artistic metalwork as a unique phenomenon within the context of applied art, and showcases a wide range of artists and craftspeople, members of creative unions who were active as freelancers within the framework of modern authored art.

Stone carving, as we know it today, has emerged in Russian decorative and applied art in the XVIII century, when the exploitation of rich mineral deposits of the Urals started during Peter I reforms. In the course of the XVIII – early XX centuries stone carving products, both as interior, office decorations, and in the form of small sculptures, were enjoyed by the upper strata of the Russian society. The collection of stone carving in our Museum provides a panorama of the past and of the present of this extraordinary and practically unknown part in the history of Russian decorative and applied art.