3-008-878 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The International Exhibition: brush trophy in the Russian Court, 1862. Engraving '...illustrative of Russian industry. In a comer of the back part of the Russian Court there stands an exceedingly handsome case which presents somewhat the appearance of the fancy Swiss cottages with which one is familiar in scenery and imaginative drawings. It is a beautiful specimen of turnery and carving, and is composed of a native Russian wood which is equal in appearance and bears a strong resemblance to satinwood. This elaborate piece of workmanship is used to contain some very homely articles of use. In fact, the case and its contents go by the name of the "Russian Brush Trophy." Within this elegant receptacle are piled up in as fanciful form as the material admits of a number of brushes, which have a strong family likeness to paintbrushes deprived of their handles in order that they may be made to stand on end. They are the manufacture of Manantoff Brothers, brushsorters, Moscow, and Adam's-court, Old Broad-street, London. These articles have obtained a prize medal at the present exhibition; and the same manufacturers obtained first prizes for their brushes at the expositions at St. Petersburg in 1860 and 1861'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.