Show all images on one page	#005807 Title: Mechanical Bird Artist: Anokhin Pavel Size: 13x10x6 Size (inches): 5x4x2,25 Price : $3250 SOLD!

One of the top Fedoskino artists, Pavel Anokhin, created this exquisite work. His otherworldly style and subtle palette are as unmistakable as they are stunning. His approach to miniature painting is philosophical and he puts his thoughts behind every work. He prefers to create his own themes and scenes which he calls "dreams about the beautiful".
The box shows the Master who makes the mechanical bird. He sits on the balcony concentrated on his work, and it seems that he doesn't notice that it's a sunny winter day outdoors. The balcony has a beautiful view down the park where people amuse themselves using nice winter weather. Some of them play hockey and fish on the icy river, while the others gather brushwood to warm their houses.
In this work Anokhin applied a unique and innovative technique of mother-of-pearl inlaying. As it can be seen on this photo, the floor of the balcony is paved with tiles; each tile shimmers with individual tonal variation that ranges from pink and violet to green and blue. This beautiful effect was achieved by cutting out each tile from a separate nacre shell, and giving it a square form; then each tile was glued to the box's body manually. Using such a complicated technique of mother-of-pearl inlay, the artist creates the mirror like floor that shimmers with a rich variety of tones. To show the viewer that each tile is separately cut out and glued to the box's body, Anokhin missed intentionally one tile (under the master's chair); the bird painted near the master holds this tile in its beak. The same complicated technique of mother-of-pearl inlay is repeated while creating the mirror like surface of the small round table the master sits at. Mother-of-pearl also shines through the mechanical bird.
Lustrous silver paint is used to highlight the master's hair, and to paint the border behind his back, to create a sensation that it is made out of iron. Silver paint also shines through the master's apron and the wing of the mechanically bird lying on the table. Gold paint is used to create the effect of a burning bulb of the lamp painted just over the master's head.
The scene is framed with a gold line. Along the edges of the lid Anokhin wrote the following verse:

To get a Fire of Desires in exchange for Love,
To replace Eyes by Dragonflies,
To exchange Hands for Power and Money,
To have Legs instead of Wheels,
To have a Heart instead of a Mainspring,
To prefer Nothing to the Holy Spirit.

The box is constructed out of paper-mache. Blue lacquer covers the exterior and milk-white lacquer covers the interior of the box. On the front side of the box, the small golden metal ball is attached - it is the imitation of a lock. The lid is hinged at top, and the box rests on four small metal balls used as legs. The work is signed by Pavel Anokhin just under the depicted scene.