Stone Flower Plaque [Kasli]

Product Description

The Stone Flower Openwork Relief (Плакетка Сквозной рельеф Каменный Цветок Касли). Cast iron (Dutch soot). Matte black color. Made in the 1980s. Model was created by artist and sculptor Ivan Vasilievich Beschastnov (1925–1996). Kasli paper tag still attached. Slightly over 2lbs. 8½" in height, 6¼" width. 1 only, as shown.

Nicely detailed lost-wax casting from the Kasli Iron Works in Yekaterinburg (Ekaterinburg) in the Ural Mountains, Russia. This significant mountain ridge forms the border between Europe and Asia. Kasli casting (named after the town of Kasli) is a metallurgical and metal-working plant which arose on the banks of the river Iset ( Исеть), and was one of the best of its kind in its day.

Ivan Vasilievich Beschastnov was a noted Chelyabinsk sculptor, and a participant in art exhibitions since 1955. At the competition of models for artistic casting, held in 1959 by the Kasli Plant and the Ministry of Culture of the RSFSR, he received an award for the table bust "P. P. Bazhov". He made models of five openwork reliefs based on the tales of P. P. Bazhov: "Stone Flower" (1977), "The Great Snake" (1977), "Ermakov Swans" (1979), "Silver Hoof" (1978), "Golden Hair" (1978), which were included in the plant's assortment and were widely distributed at the Kasli Plant in the last quarter of the 20th century.