Show all images on one page	#002755 Title: A Fortune Telling Artist: Wagner Marie Size: 10.5x13.5x2.5 Size (inches): 4x5.25x1 Price : $895 SOLD!

The sumptuous style of top Fedoskino artist Maria Wagner shines in this delightful work. Most of all she likes to depict the scenes from village life. Each of her unique works looks festive and bright. Her expressively painted characters have large eyes and cherry drop mouths. They are dressed in the richly ornate folk costumes, which make them so appealing to look at.
Here the artist depicts an old woman telling fortunes to a maiden. The maiden is excited a little as she wants to find out who her husband will be. Her girlfriend stands nearby saying the words of encouragement. It is the evening on the eve of Epiphany; it is the most appropriate time during a year to perform fortune-telling.
The structure of the composition is complex, and filled with amazing details. Not only the characters and their costumes are elaborately painted, much attention is also focused on the realistic reproduction of the peasant hut's interior. The crockery, the stove with a burning fire inside, the ax for chopping wood, the cat, and the roosters that like other poultry live sometimes in peasant huts in winter are drawn to show vividly the way of life of Russian peasants. The view of a village street filled with young men who have already started to celebrate the Holy Day of Epiphany is seen through the window. It is painted to create the depth of the composition.
The scene is beautifully painted in Wagner's signature translucent jewel tones over gold and silver metal paints to create a unique glow and breathtaking depth. The box's black lacquered exterior is covered with silver powder as an original decoration. On the box's exterior bottom the artist has painted in oils one more scene that features the table-cloth, the loaf of bread, the dipper filled with caviar, the basket and a branch of the rowan tree. The box's interior is traditionally red.
The box is constructed out of paper-mache. The lid is hinged from the left of the scene, and the box rests on a flat bottom. The work is signed with the artist's name, and the village of Fedoskino.