Show all images on one page	#003259 Title: An Apple Saviour Day Artist: Vlasovs Eugene and Svetlana Size: 14x15x4 Size (inches): 5.5x6x1.5 Price : $1100 SOLD!

This magnificent box was created by the talented husband and wife duo of Yevgeniy and Svetlana Vlasov from the village of Kholui. It shows how the Russians celebrate the Apple Saviour Day that is one of the main Orthodox holidays.
There are three feast days of the Saviour in August in Russia - honey, apple and nut. Each of them corresponds to this or that religious feast, and they received their names according to the dainties allowed to be tried that day as it was prescribed by the Orthodox tradition.
Especially popular is the second Saviour day which is one of the great 12 feast days in the Orthodox calendar - the feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ called the Apple Day of the Saviour. This day ripened apples were brought to the church to be blessed and only after that people could eat them. After the apples brought to the church had been blessed, the special services were held in the orchards, and harvesting of apples began. And then everybody rushed to the fair to sell apples in time. And not only the fair but also festivities marked the day. Very often tables were laid in front of the churches and the festive meal was finished with the merry-making in which all people participated.
With an abundance of detail the artists give the eyes a feast of information to digest. It is hard to conceive the amount of brushstrokes and the amount of blending and layering they made. The details are enhanced tremendously by the golden contours illuminating each and every inch of the moment composed.
Elaborately painted gold and aluminum patterns decorate the box's exterior. On the lid's interior you can find the additional miniature painted entirely in gold. It shows a picturesque country landscape, and various forest animals gathered near the basket of apples left by someone on the sunny glade. In the middle of this miniature there is a frame; within this frame the artists have written their names, a list of materials used, the title, Kholuy, the year of 2007, and the confirmation that this work is of original design.
The box is constructed out of paper-mache. Black lacquer covers the exterior and red lacquer covers the interior of the box. The box has a hinge above the composition and rests on legs. A gorgeous work from prominent Kholui artists!