Show all images on one page	#001162 Title: Hussar Artist: Kovaleva N. Size: 9.5x7x4.5 Price : $280 SOLD!

This traditional Fedoskino box was painted by Nina Kovalyova. The composition shows a handsome hussar who asks village girls to give him to drink. It's a rare chance to meet such a handsome and elegantly dressed man in the remote Russian village, and the girls do their best to please him. Putting her yoke and pails on the ground, one of them offers him a cup of fresh, cold well-water. The other girl holds a big samovar in her hands and proposes the gallant hussar to drink tea. In the background the artist depicts the hussar's steed and the gates of a village house.
Each character in the scene is painted with great life and different colors to make them stand out from the earthtone-colored background. Their features are very visible and lifelike. The setting is painted to reflect the atmosphere of a true Russian village where one can see wooden fences and houses, wild flowers and an earth road like in this picture. The colors used to paint the costumes of the girls appear quite luxurious because aluminum powder has been mixed into the palette. Aluminum paint shines through and gives the piece a faint underglow. More glowing wonder comes out of the samovar, the kokoshnik of one of the girls and the hussar's uniform which are painted over tiny inlays of gold leaf.
The box is constructed from paper-mache. Black lacquer is used to paint the exterior of the box while red lacquer completes the interior of the work. The sides of the box are decorated with the beautiful gold patterns. The box has a hinge from the top of the composition and rests on a flat bottom. The Fedoskino "troika" insignia can be found on the interior of the lid. The box is signed with the artist's name, village and year (1996).