Show all images on one page	#001851 Title: The Event That Happened to Evseyka Artist: Zaitsev Alexander Size: 24x18.5x4.5 Size (inches): 9.5x7.25x1.75 Price : $900 SOLD!

The creative artist Alexander Zaitsev has painted this marvelous box. Here he has chosen to depict a scene from the humorous tale of "The Event That Happened to Evseyka". The story was written by the famous Russian author Maxim Gorky and tells the tale of a young lad and his highly evolved imagination. The artist represents the story in a very unique way. The composition is split into two separate parts that represent different realities. The upper part of the composition features the real world: Evseyka has just fallen asleep while fishing at the riverbank. The bottom half depicts the world of Evseyka's fantasy. He sleeps and dreams of his conversation with the largest fish of the sea at the river bottom. Their conversation is very interesting, they banter about the realities of land and sea. Here the artist paints Evseyka slightly transparent in order to develop the feeling of the lad in a dream state.
The palette invigorates the senses. Light and relaxing pastels make up the daylight sequence while much bolder tones enliven the frantic action of the river bottom. The sky above is an attractive combination of creamy salmon, sky blue and faint purple. The calm of the water, the beautiful trees; especially the background forest; and the positioning of the characters are all calming facets of the portrait. Multiple tones of blue create the ideal underwater setting. Navy, steel, green aquamarine and cornflower all take a dive. The creatures and the underwater plant life are expertly detailed and very realistic. You can hear the gargled speech busting through the bubbles as the giant fish and Evseyka speak to one another. This truly is a classic composition.
The decoration is simply breathtaking. The composition is a vertical oval in shape. Its edge is framed with a minute string of golden beads. The edges of the lid are decorated with intricately laced gold and aluminum scrollwork. The rest space of the lid, and the sides of the box are covered with another staggering decoration: using gold and aluminum paint, thinly applied to the sketch, the artist has drawn various trout, bass, carp, pike and a crab swimming among the waving kelp beds of river floor. The fish are amazingly realistic, blueprints of the gliding animals they are. A handsome addition.
The box is constructed from paper-mache. Black lacquer is used to paint the exterior of the box while red lacquer completes the interior of the work. The lid is hinged from the left and the box rests on four legs. The work is signed with the artist's name, the village (Mstera), and the title.