Show all images on one page	#001170 Title: Peddler Artist: Vorontsova N. Size: 6x7.5x4 Price : $150 SOLD!

This attractive small box was painted by N. Vorontsova from Fedoskino. The composition shows a scene from peasant daily life. The peddlers have brought their goods in a small village. Dropping in a peasant house, one of them shows different fabrics, lace and clews of yarn to young women. Being an experienced seller, he praises his goods and smiles ingratiatingly. The pink-cheeked women, wrapped in bright, multicolored shawls, look pleased and are ready to buy something.
With the limited space of the box the artist has been able to find place for so many different, tiny details. The characters are painted with great life. Their features are very visible and lifelike; their costumes are neatly detailed. The wooden interior shows how a peasant house looked like before the 1900's.
The colors taken from the artist's palette create a special sense of festivity. A creamy caramel-brown is applied as the background of the room, whereas the characters are painted in bright red, pink, green and yellow tones. The artist uses two methods to increase the brilliance of these colors. First, he mixes oils with aluminum powder. Aluminum paint shines through and gives the costumes of the characters a faint underglow. Second, he uses an inlay of gold metallic leaf as the underlying level below the colored oils. Gold leaf brings superior definition to the shawls and the peddler's shirt.
The box is constructed from paper-mache. Black lacquer covers the exterior and red lacquer covers the interior of the box. The sides of the box are decorated with intricate gold patterns. A hinge is fastened to the left of the composition. The box rests on a flat bottom. It is signed with the name of the artist, village and year (1997). A fine traditional work!