Show all images on one page	#004639 Title: Zaporozhue Cossacks Writing a Letter to the Turkish Sultan Artist: Baulina K. Size: 19.5x15.5x5 Size (inches): 7.75x6x2 Price : $895 SOLD!

The painting on this box by Baulina of Fedoskino is a fragment of a well-known painting “Zaporozhiye Cossacks Writing a Letter to the Turkish Sultan”. It was originally painted by Iliya Repin in 1880-1881.
Her are some historical facts: Sultan of Turkey invited the Zaporozhie Cossaks to join the Ottoman Empire but received only their scorn, because the freedom-loving Cossaks didn't want to submit to anybody. Here the cossacks gather about the scribe and with great hilarity compose as insulting a reply as possible to a demand for their surrender by the Turkish around the year 1675.
In the 17th Century, Ukraine was a constantly disputed borderland between Catholic Poland and Muslim Turkey (both more powerful in those days), and Orthodox Russia (just starting to emerge as a great power). The Cossacks were Ukrainian cavalrymen originally chartered by Poland to establish autonomous military communities on the Turkish border. The most famous Cossack settlement was the Zaporogian "Syech'" near present-day Zaporozhue on the Dniepr River. At various times, different Cossack bands shifted allegiance back and forth between Poland and Russia. As Poland intended, however, they usually opposed Muslim Turkey on religious grounds. The artist has perfectly captured the essence of Repin's style while retaining his techniques and voice. He could comprehend the original and reproduce the specific atmosphere of this scene. The composition seems to be filled with warm air, smell of fire and rough jokes of the cossacks. A fine plastic of gestures and facial expression transmits us a complicated range of feelings, human passions and emotions. Fine brushstrokes create the characters with their multi-colored, life-like and individualized faces, their traditional cossack clothing and the wonderful Ukrainian landscape. The painter could create the charming, expressive and complicated picture within a limited space of the box. Having a delicate artistic taste, an Artist successfully contrasts various color combinations; she feels the rhythm of lines and uses them in composition. Rich and bright color palette is based on the harmonious combinations of red, gray, green, blue, brown, yellow, black and white tones. This marvelous composition is notable for clear composition, subtle graphic technique, exquisite style, rich coloring and the artist's attempt to capture the atmosphere of the scene!
The scene is framed with a gold line. Two parallel gold lines decorate the box's sides.
This box is constructed out of paper-mache. The exterior is painted with black lacquer and the interior is painted in red lacquer. The lid is hinged to the top of the composition and the box sits on 4 feet.
The Artist wrote her name, the name of the composition and the name of the original artist-I.Repin as well at the bottom of the composition.