The displayed marble pestle was used for the production of mineral paints which were used in tray painting. In Russian, the tool was also known as “courant” which means “running” or “current” in French. The term became popular among Russian artists in the 18th century.

The pestle is one of the oldest tools. It was made of various materials such as stone, wood, metal, and bone. Paints were produced using pestles made of stone, usually marble. The stone surface was neutral and did not react with minerals, unlike metal and wooden pestles.

The pestle could be cone- or mushroom-shaped and had a wide and flat base. It was ground against a stone slab which served as a palette. Usually, artists would begin by crushing the minerals in a mortar before grinding them into a fine powder on a stone slab.

Large pestles were made of solid rock. The stone slab was usually made of the same material. Artists from Nizhny Tagil produced pestles using marble, granite, and rarely bone. The pestle from the museum collection was made of marble in the late 19th century.

Nizhny Tagil artists used paints made of natural materials such as colored clay, which was found in large amounts along the banks of the Lebyazhka River, and Ural minerals which were found on the stockpiles of Vysokaya Mountain.

After being crushed in a mortar and ground with a pestle, the powder was mixed with boiled linseed oil to produce paint. One of the most famous paints from the Urals was malachite green. This type of paint was produced of low-quality malachite that was not suitable for making jewelry.

Malachite was traditionally used by icon painters because it was a very stable color. Thanks to malachite, Nizhny Tagil trays had a bright and saturated green background. Local storage chests and roofs could also be painted using this dye.