Russian enamels are created by painting a glass-like substance onto a glass or metal plaque, then firing it in a kiln. Russian artisans mastered the technique of painted enamels by the late 17th century. The first mention of an enamel workshop in Rostov, Russia, was in the 1760's. Since that time, craftsmen in Rostov have produced beautiful religious works, landscape and portrait miniature, jewelry and other objets d'art. These jewelry sets, in which the enamels are set in an intricate framework of german silver, are examples of the Rostov artists' poetic and lyrical vision of the beauty of the Russian land, and the creative human spirit.