Show all images on one page	#006091 Title: Mowing time Artist: Gudkova Vera Size: 20.5x13.5x6.5 Size (inches): 8x5.25x2.5 Price : $750 SOLD!

This large Fedoskino box was painted by Vera Gudkova. The composition shows the hay-making time. It's getting dark and dusk is falling. Peasants have finished mowing and are about to come back home. A lad holds the hand of a girl and looks tenderly at her. The girl dropped her eyes, feeling embarrassment. An old man, sitting on the cart, hurries them to take a sit on the cart, because he is very tired and wants to return home. Such scenes like this one, were very popular during the time of the Soviet Union, when sweatshop labor was glorified by different artists, sculptors and writers.
Here the artist uses the decorative potential of painting over metal aluminum powder. Aluminum powder gives depth to the sky and creates the effect of sun rays that have fallen on the field. Several houses in the background, stacks, small figures of people and animals also build depth for the scene. Grey tones are used to paint the sky, green and yellow tones are used to paint the field, whereas the clothes of people are drawn in bright blue and red tones to contrast monotonous colors of the landscape. The faces of people, their clothes, animals and other details are painted thoroughly.
The box is constructed from paper-mache. Black lacquer is used to paint the exterior of the box while dark red lacquer completes the interior of the piece. A hinge has been fastened to the top of the composition for ease of opening. The ruffled, outermost edges of the box grant the piece ample antique appeal. The composition is framed with gold beading, while the sides of the box are decorated with unique and very precisely drawn floral patterns in metallic gold. The Fedoskino "troika" insignia can be found on the interior of the lid, and the box rests flat. The box is signed with the artist's name, village and year (2002).