At the beginning of the XIX th century a tradition of manufacturing porcelain figures came into being in Russia. At first models for them were literature or fary - tales characters, later - personages of peasants and town inhabitants. Karl Faberge was among the first to develop this direction in the stonecutting art. It occurred to the master that the figures would look better and more attractive if their parts were made out of coloured stones. He mastered the manufacturing of such figures to the top perfection turning them into real works of art. After the October revolution this direction of art was declared to be an example of a bad bourgeois taste and soon forgotten.

    At early 60s of the XX th century V. Konovalenko, a theatrical artist by profession, created about a dousen of stonecutting figures. They differ from those of Faberge in their genre compositions and size (Faberge's figures - 16 - 18cm, Konovalenko's - 25-28 cm). After being exhibited at one of Moscow museums, his figures were confiscated and he was forced to emigrate to the USA. Only after the political situation in the country was changed stonecutting artists obtained creative freedom and many of them turned to making stone figures, following and developing the traditions of the Russian carvers of hard stone.