Show all images on one page	#007398 Title: Village of Marfino Artist: Mikheev Alexander Size: 26x16x4 Size (inches): 10.25x6.25x1.5 Price : $3950 SOLD!

This large interesting box was painted by a well-known Fedoskino Master Alexander Mikheev. Mikheev is a member of the Union of the artist of Russia for many years.
On this box Master has drawn estate of Marfino, which is located in only 3 km from village of Fedoskino and has an old Park. Anybody who will go on the excursion to Fedoskino have a chance to visit this estate.
Marfino has been known since the 16th century. It originally belonged to the Golovins, then was sold to dyak Semyon Zaborovsky in 1650, and in 1698, Boris Golitsyn, a mentor of the future Emperor Peter the Great, bought the estate. The earliest surviving buildings in Marfino originate from the Golitsyn's period, between 1698 and 1714. Golitsyn also was the one to rename the village Marfino, after his wife Marfa. The son of Golitsyn sold the estate in 1729 to Count Pyotr Saltykov. Much of the existing ensemble of the estate, which includes buildings and a park, was designed during the period when the Saltykovs owned the estate. They also turned the estate into a cultural center and organized stage and music performances which attracted visitors from Moscow. In 1805, the estate owner died and the estate started to decay. In 1812, during the French invasion of Russia, it was looted by the French army. Subsequently, it was restored and changed hands several times. In the 1840s, the house was rebuilt as a medieval Gothic castle by the architect Mikhail Bykovsky.
After the revolution of 1917, the estate was nationalized. In 1933, it was transferred under the Ministry of Defense and currently hosts a sanatorium.The Marfino estate contains a landscape park and a number of buildings constructed in different styles.
The oldest remaining building is the Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos, built in 1707 by the architect Vladimir Belozerov. Belozerov was a serf of Golitsyn who sent him to France to study architecture. He built a church in a style close to European Baroque. Golitsyn was not content with the church and had Belozerov to be whipped.
The Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos is painted over several large pieces of mother-of-pearl. Other pieces of mother-of-pearl are shimmering through an old oak tree on the right side of the composition, through the water (left lower corner) and through the ruins of the walls on the right side as well.
The box is constructed from paper-mache. Black lacquer is used to paint the exterior of the piece while dark red lacquer completes the interior of the work. The lid is hinged from the top of the composition, and the box rests on a flat bottom. The sides of the base are decorated with a line painted in gold.
The work is signed with village of Fedoskino, date (2013),titled ("Marfino")and the name of the artist.