The ceiling painting was produced on canvas by Philippe Pillement, an 18th-century French artist who came to Russia on the recommendation of Jean-Baptiste Le Blond. This ceiling painting is a variation on the plant motifs where every flower in the pattern is recognizable. In the centre is a luxurious umbrella-like rosette, in the corners - fantastic grotesques and female faces against a background of seashells that somehow call to mind extravagant lace ruffs. The story goes that the artist included portraits of Menshikov's daughters - Maria, Alexandra, Varvara and Yekaterina.
In the course of the 1960s restoration, beneath Pillement's canvas traces were discovered of the first two versions of ceiling decoration that were painted directly on the plaster: a Victorious Warrior by painters belonging to the Armoury Chamber in Moscow and corner compositions of Cupids.