Show all images on one page	#009228 Title: Novel "Dead Souls" (after Gogol) Artist: Zotov Nikolay Size: 27x20x11 Size (inches): 10.75x7.75x4.25 Price : $2695 SOLD!

This interesting and rare theme of Gogol's novel "Dead Souls" was transferred from the paper to the box by a talented fedoskino artist, Nikolay Zootov.
Dead Souls is a novel by Nikolai Gogol, first published in 1842, and widely regarded as an exemplar of 19th-century Russian literature. The novel chronicles the travels and adventures of Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov and the people whom he encounters. These people typify the Russian middle-class of the time.
In the Russian Empire, before the emancipation of the serfs in 1861, landowners had the right to own serfs to farm their land. Serfs were for most purposes considered the property of the landowner, who could buy, sell or mortgage them, as any other chattel. To count serfs (and people in general), the measure word "soul" was used: e.g., "six souls of serfs". The plot of the novel relies on "dead souls" (i.e., "dead serfs") which are still accounted for in property registers. On another level, the title refers to the "dead souls" of Gogol's characters, all of which represent different aspects of vulgarity (moral and spiritual) , with overtones of middle-class pretentiousness, fake significance and philistinism.
The box's exterior is covered with black lacquers while the interior is covered with red lacquer.
The painting is framed with a gold line. Another gold line and intricate ornamentation painted in gold is decorating the edges of a lid and edges of the base of the box. The sides of the box are decorated with two parallel gold lines, the space between them is filled with a mixture of black, gray and gold colors, that imitates a stone of marble.
The box is made out of paper-mache. The lid is hinged, and rests on four legs. The work is signed with the name of the artist.