The craftsman found his subjects in many fields - art traditions, folk poetry, everyday life, illustrated old Russian manuscripts. When the image was simple, it was executed on the spot without preliminary contour drawing. In this event the tile-maker worked freely, but no corrections were possible as the water-diluted paints, leaving a coloured layer on the surface of fresh glaze, were immediately absorbed by the slab. Among simple and primitive patterns images of people and animals are often executed with a perfect knowledge of anatomy. By the late eighteenth century classicism introduced greater simplicity and severity of contour, and balanced composition in tile ornament. Opulent frames were replaced by simple borders enclosing an antique vase, urn, a ribbon-tied bouquet of flowers, fruit. Sometimes a general pattern covered the whole surface of the stove, each tile bearing a part of the composition. The colours were cold - skyblue or darkblue against a white background. At this time high relief or "faience" stoves, coated with dazzling white enamel became fashionable. Such stoves, mounted in the mansions of the wealthy were an important element of the interior decor. Adorned with vases, sculptures, bas-reliefs on mythological themes, they were very striking. The stove displayed in the Museum is quite modest. It is dated 1806 - the time the house was built. The stove seemingly consists of two parts - the upper one, decorated with a relief eagle perched on a basket of fruit, and the lower, depicting a swan in relief, with a wreath on its neck. Both images are enclosed in floral ornament. Whenever possible, these stoves were fired from the corridor or from a back room. This type of stove, worked out in the late eighteenth century, was widely used up to the 1840's.
In the course of the nineteenth century the artistic significance of the Russian tile gradually decreased. Patterns became simpler. Colours employed were either blue or brown, sometimes green. The central image was reduced to a simple flower. Gradually the central pattern vanished and only a straight narrow ffame remained. Such cheap and easily-made tiles were in use everywhere. Only the provinces still preserved the variegated tiles of old. For instance, in the middle of the nineteenth century Kaluga craftsmen continued to make tiles with a rich baroque frame, enclosing either a large basket of flowers and tiny lemons, or a bouquet of flowers tied with a ribbon. Stoves faced with such tiles were simple, no architectural details broke the surface and the stove resembled a carpet with subdued, rhythmic ornament.
