Malachite vase

Malachite, the distinctive bright green material (technically, the mineral hydrated copper carbonate) with which this vase is veneered , was first extracted from the mines belonging to the Demidov family in the Ural Mountains of central Russia in the eighteenth century. The fashion for malachite objects reached its height in the early nineteenth century, and in the reign of Tsar Nicholas I the working of this strongly marked substance became one of the main specialities and most admired achievements of the imperial lapidary workshops of Peterhof, Ekaterinburg and Kolyvan. Its brittle nature meant that for larger objects malachite could only be used as a veneer. The skill of the lapidaries lay in piecing together the veneers to make the most striking but natural looking patterns. This example was probably made in the workshops at Peterhof. When it arrived at Windsor Castle, George IV had it placed in the window of the new Crimson Drawing Room.