Show all images on one page	#001237 Title: Love-philtre Artist: Blinov Vladimir Size: 16x10.5x4.5 Size (inches): 6.25x4x1.75 Price : $795 SOLD!

This attractive piece of authentic Russian artistry was created by the talented Vladimir Blinov of Kholuy. The composition depicts rather unusual scene: a young girl getting tired with her unrequited love asks an old sorceress to help her. The sorceress knows many magic words and spells; she knows what herb may cue a man and what herb may kill him; she knows all secrets of the forest. She gives the girl a magic love philter made out of different herbs. If a lad whom the girl loves drinks the love philter, he will be entrapped and obliged to love only the girl who enchanted him. But isn't real love, it is delusion and at any moment another sorceress may remove a spell. In the background we can see the lad whom the girl loves. He is surrounded with beautiful girl and flirts with them, he doesn't know that soon he will be enchanted.
Blinov's unmistakable style is immediately apparent in this beautiful forest scene. Multiple shades of green in the flora in the foreground mesh with hints of purple and lavendar for the areas deeper in the forest. Human figures are painted with light pastels that stand out and immediately attract the eye. Delicate gold and silver paints are used to accentuate details and add decoration to elements of the painting.
Blinov continues his precise painting using gold and aluminum paints on the filigree around the composition and the sides of the box, which consists of gold vines and scrolls and silver flowers and beads.
The box is constructed from paper-mache, with a hinge above the composition. Black lacquer is used to paint the exterior of the box while red lacquer completes the interior of the work. A hinge has been fastened to the top of the composition for ease of opening, and the box rests on four legs. The artist completes the piece by writing the title, "Kholui", and his name in gold paint under the composition. In the interior of the lid the artist also writes the title, "Kholui", the year of 2004, and the confirmation that it is the original author's work.