The exhibition features a plaster bust of Napoleon, one of the most significant historical figures. The bust was created using the technique of model plaster casting that was developed by Ivan Petrovich Karavayev.

At the age of 12, Ivan Karavayev began to work as a plasterer under the supervision of adults, and by 16, he was already working independently. At 18, he tried to make alabaster toys and achieved great success with that craft. Ivan Karavayev made his first casting molds himself, based on clay statues, and later started using ready-made molds purchased abroad.

In the 1938 book by Mikhail Nikolayevich Shatrov “Kirov Craftsmen”, Ivan Karavayev told the story of the craft,

Ivan Karavayev taught the new craft to his relatives, including his brother-in-law Konstantin Nikolayevich Isupov. The men molded products and their wives colored them.

In 1890, Karavayev received a Silver Medal at the Kazan Scientific and Industrial Exhibition “for the high-quality manufacture and excellent coloring of plaster genre figurines”, and in 1894 he received a medal at the All-Russian Fair in Nizhny Novgorod. The busts and figurines from the workshop of Isupov and Karavayev were cast from plaster and painted with oil. They adorned the houses of many Vyatka citizens. Sculptures of famous historical figures and generals, including Napoleon, were particularly popular.

During his career, Ivan Karavayev created about 12,000 molds for casting various artistic works and teaching aids from plaster.