Show all images on one page	#001005 Title: A lady in blue Artist: Sytova Svetlana Size: 10x6.5x3.5 Price : $345 SOLD!

Sytova, from the village of Fedoskino is the talented artist who painted this masterful work. The composition portrays a young, beautiful woman dressed in blue, looking off to the right. The woman looks like a noblewoman, who in her youth was one of the beauties of her time, and no doubt captivated many suitors at balls and other social functions. Her appearance is very romantic and dreamy. The artist here could skillfully reproduce the charm of youth, the delicacy of femininity and the richness of inner life.
The portraits like this one were very popular at the beginning of the ninetieth century. P.V. Lukutin factory produced a large quantity of lacquered boxes depicting young beautiful girls and women against a picturesque landscape.
This composition is painted on an oval inset on the rectangular box. Positioned inside a gold stylized frame, the young woman looks out at her admirers with a gentle elegance. Her carefully positioned curls glisten in the light, as do her deep brown eyes. The artist shows off her incredible skill as a portraitist in creating just the right tones in the woman's skin and attire.
A special attention is paid to the depiction of the woman's dress. A fine brush creates small flowers that decorate the dress, intricate minute patterns on the shawl, and the airy, translucent collar that accentuates fragile beauty of the woman. Blending of light blue and dark blue tones on the dress creates the truly astonishing effect of reproducing the texture of satin.
By adding an almost invisible gradation between light green, gray and brown in the background the artist creates subtle depth of the composition and illuminates the image with tender, even light.
The box is carved into a rectangle with ruffled sides to the right and left, and a rounded side towards the compositional bottom. The edges of the lid are decorated with a gold scrolling design that consists of single shapes making up the larger pattern. The lid's composition is decorated with some of the most beautiful and intricately flawless design work ever available. Intensely magnified filigree floral designs float about the surface of the lid. These gold designs are supplemented with bright blue blossoms and leaves. The similar floral design, but a little bit larger in size wraps around the sides of the box.
The box is made out of high quality paper-mache. Black lacquer covers the exterior and red lacquer covers the interior of the box. The interior also includes the Fedoskino "troika" insignia stamped in orange paint on the roof of the lid.
The box has a hinge above the composition and rests on a flat bottom. It is signed with the name of the artist, village and year (1999).