The exceptionally beautiful large oval bowl fashioned from rhodonite by the lapidary craftsmen of Yekaterinburg is one of the masterpieces of the Hermitage. The monolith from which the bowl was cut was unique: a block of unprecedented size, weighing about 1000 poods (16 000 kilogrammes), that was quarried from the Malosidelnikovskoye deposit (Urals) in the summer of 1858. The size and shape of the bowl were chosen to match the block. The design was produced by the academician Mikhail Shchurupov. The beauty of the bowl lies in the material itself - a block of rhodonite with a rich range of picturesque colours, from tender pinks, through deep reds, to dark cherries. The Yekaterinburg craftsmen took especial care and pains in creating this bowl over some ten years.
In 1870 the vase was displayed at the All-Russian Industrial Exhibition in St Petersburg. In 1873 it was shown at the World Exhibition in Vienna.