Zhostovo Tray Painting

The Vishnyakov family began making painted trays here in 1825, working from a lacquer tradition and switching from papier-mache to iron. The method has not changed much: a tray is forged and primed, usually black, and then a painter builds a bouquet in oil in several passes with drying between - the underpainting laid in broadly, then the shaping, then the detail, then thin highlights and finally the thin curling stems and grasses that tie the group together, with a gold border last. Painters do not copy a design; each works from the composition in their head, so no two trays match, and the individual hand is recognisable to people who know the workshop. A finished tray takes weeks through the drying stages. The factory in the village has a museum, sells its work, and runs sessions where visitors paint a small tray themselves under supervision, which is the best way to understand how hard the stroke work is.

What you actually see

• The layered build - a bouquet developed over several passes with drying between.
• No two alike - painters composing from memory rather than copying a pattern.
• The final stems - thin curling grasses laid last to tie the bouquet together.
• The painting session - visitors trying a small tray under a painter's eye.

When to go

All year. Two hours. Painting sessions and tours are booked in advance.

Honest expectations

Booking is required and tours run in Russian. The factory works weekdays. Real Zhostovo is heavy, expensive and signed on the back; the light trays sold at roadside stalls are usually printed. The village is small with no facilities beyond the works.

Nearby

Fedoskino, which makes lacquer miniatures, is a short distance away.