Show all images on one page	#002681 Title: Princess non smile Artist: Khasanova Marina Size: 23x16x7 Size (inches): 9x6.25x2.75 Price : $850 SOLD!

This large elegantly shaped box is a creation of Marina Khasanova from the village of Fedoskino. It features a scene from the Russian folk fairy-tale "Princess Never Smile". The only daughter of a rich and powerful king is always very sad; nobody has seen even a slight smile on her face. The king is worried about his daughter's health. To find a way out from this difficult situation he issues the following decree: "Anyone who can coax a smile from my daughter will be her husband!". Many young men go to the tsar's palace to try their luck; they show the princess many funny tricks but nobody of them can make her laugh. Meanwhile the poor and laborious worker looses all his money. He knows that the princess is very beautiful and kind, and decides to help her. When he enters the tsar's yard, he falls down just into the dirty puddle and at this moment his friends: a mouse, a beetle and a fish start to dance and show various tricks. The Princess bursts out laughing, and in the end of the tale the poor worker becomes her husband.
Here we can see the tsar's servants trying to make the Princess laugh. They dance and play the fool on the balcony of the tsar's terem palace. Each of them is brilliantly painted in bright oils. Gold paint is used to detail their costumes.
The scene is framed with a gold line. Two parallel gold lines can be found wrapping around the box's sides. On the front and on the rear sides of the box Khasanova painted beautiful flowers.
The box is constructed out of paper-mache. Black lacquer covers the exterior and red lacquer covers the interior of the box. The box has a hinge from the top of the scene, and rests on a flat bottom. Signed with the artist's name, the title, the village of Fedoskino and the year of 2006.