Show all images on one page	#001057 Title: Portrait of a lady Artist: Chirkova Svetlana Size: 11x6.5x3.5 Price : $750 SOLD!

This portrait of unknown woman was painted by Fedoskino artist Svetlana Chirkova. The portrait is painted in the realistic style and bears a resemblance to the paintings, typical for the Russian art of the 18th and 19th centuries. The depicted woman looks at the viewer with dignity; her elegant lilac dress adorned with flowers and bows, her pearl necklace, her emerald ear-rings, her beautiful hair style show us that she is a rich noble woman.
The palette is amazingly close to one that imitates life. This portrait so closely resembles that of a photograph, that one has to look closely to see the brushwork and texture of the paint. The linear movement, shading, and transitioning of colors and variations in tone is great. The woman's hair is so finely detailed that one can see individual curls. The shine in her hair, the crystal clarity of her eyes, the rose of her skin, and the shimmer of her jewels are skillfully reproduced. By adding a gradation between dark and light green 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 portrait is painted on an oval inset on this rectangular box and framed with a fine gold filigree design. To the right and to the left from the portrait there is a large portion of elegant gold scrollwork. These bright gold scrolls marvelously decorate the black, smooth lacquered surface of the lid; they are as lovely as the portrait itself. The edges of the lid are adorned with a gold twisting line and dots. The sides of the box are adorned with three parallel gold patterns of different size and design.
The box is made out of paper-mache, with a hinge above the composition and a flat bottom. 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 is signed with the artist's name, village, and year (1997).