Show all images on one page	#004829 Title: The Novodevichy Convent Artist: Karpova Elina Size: 10.5x8.5x3.5 Size (inches): 4x3.25x1.25 Price : $350 SOLD!

This box is a marvelous creation of Elina Karpova. Here she has chosen to depict the famous Novodevichy Convent (New Maidens') located in the center of Moscow. The Novodevichy Convent was founded in 1524 by Grand Prince Vasily III in commemoration of the conquest of Smolensk in 1514. It was known to have sheltered many ladies from the Russian royal families and boyar clans, who had been forced to take the veil, such as Fedor I's wife - Irina Godunova (she was there with her brother Boris Godunov until he became a ruler himself), Sophia Alekseyevna (Peter the Great's sister), Eudoxia Lopukhina (Peter the Great's first wife), and others.
The convent is painted precisely with a lot of details, whereas modern buildings in the background are almost invisible; it is a trick that artists use to create depth through perspectives. The composition is mostly painted in delicate greenish and greyinsh tones. Aluminum powder is mixed with white and grey oil paints to create the silverfish mist that covers the sky and the buildings in the background. Inlays of gold leaf give the cupolas of the cathedral a bright glow. The trees are painted with intricacy; the people are dwarfed by the grandeur of the convent.
The sides of the box are decorated with two parallel gold lines. 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 lid is hinged from the top of the composition, and the box rests flat. 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 (2003).