Show all images on one page	#004533 Title: Baryni-Sudaryni Artist: Smolenskaya Valentina Size: 5x3.5x4 Size (inches): 2x1.5x1.5 Price : $850 SOLD!

This interesting small box is a creation of Valentina Smolenskaya from the village of Fedoskino. The Artist paints her works in the unique style, creating brilliant and exclusive collections of lacquer boxes, plates and jewelry. Her lacquer boxes are displayed in many catalogues on Russian lacquer miniature art. For example, in the book "Masters of Fedoskino" by Nadezhda Krestovskaya you can find the following works: At the Fair, Wedding in the Russian Country Estate, Glory of 1812; in the book "200 years of Russian Lacquer Art" by Lyudmila Pirogova you can find the following brilliant works: "Peoples' Theater", "A Stroll", "Along the Embankment".
At present Valentina Smolenskya lives and works in Moscow. Her creations are exhibited in the Museum of Decorative, Applied and Folk Art, and also in the Museum of Fedoskino Factory.
The work is called "Barynya-Sudarynaya". In old times in Russia the word "Barynya" (Landlady) was used by simple folks as a form of addressing to a woman of higher class. A Russian folk dance is also called "Barynya". The Barynya dance is an alternation of chastushkas (limericks) and frenetic dancing. The Barynya chastuskas used to have a refrain "Barynya, barynya, sudarynya-barynya", or "Barynya ty moya, sudarynya ty moya". The content is always humoristic. The dancing goes without special choreography and consists mainly of fancy stomping and traditional Russian squatwork - knee bending ("prisyadka", "vprisyadku").
The box's lid shows two barynyas (ladies of high class) dressed in the elegant attire painted in accordance with the fashion of the 19th century. Mother-of-pearl is set into the stand-up collars of both ladies, into the white rose depicted in the center and into the ribbon on the head of the lady depicted on the left. Aluminum and gold paints shine through the ladies' hair and attire. This scene is framed with a gold line.
One more scene can be found on the box's front side. It depicts several things possessed by the ladies: the opened book, the fan, the envelope that contains a love letter, the flowers, and the playing cards used for cartomancy. Mother-of-pearl is set into the fan; gold paint is used for highlighting. This scene is framed with a gold line. The box's sides are also decorated with short and long, interlaced and parallel gold lines scattered on the blue background mixed with gold dust. The box's exterior bottom is black; the interior is traditionally red.
The box is constructed from paper-mache. A hinge is fastened at the top and the box rests on a flat bottom. The work is signed with the artist's name, Fedoskino, the title and the year of 2002.