Show all images on one page	#002531 Title: Unicorn Artist: Victor Kuznetsov Size: 24x18x5 Size (inches): 9.5x7x2 Price : $950 SOLD!

This splendid box painted by the talented Mstera artist Victor Kuznetsov features the fantastic and alluring world of myths. It is inhabited by powerful kings, pure virgins, brave knights, and sacred animals. Fire-spitting dragons, golden antlered deer, wise lions, birds of paradise live in harmony with people. One of them, a unicorn, has always attracted imagination of various artists for centuries.
According to various legends, a unicorn was a horse with the long horn on its forehead. Some of them had wings, and could fly. The earliest images (wall paintings) of unicorns were discovered in ancient towns in India. Unicorns are mentioned in Chinese, Moslem, and even Russian folklores. In Greek and Roman cultures unicorns appeared as real animals. Julius Caesar in his "Gallic War" wrote that he saw a unicorn in the forest not far from the Rhine River. In Middle Ages a unicorn was the symbol of strength, purity, immaculacy and virginity. There is a legend connected with this fact. It tells that only a virgin can tame a unicorn. There are many medieval tapestries depicting a virgin with a unicorn sleeping on her knees. The most famous of them is "The Virgin and The Unicorn" (X century) exhibited in the Kluni Museum in Paris.
There is an interesting fact that in ancient times people believed that horns and mane of unicorns possessed healing properties. In the left upper corner the man presents the tsar the bowl made out of a unicorn's horn, as it was believed that such bowls could remove any poison from the liquid and also could make a man healthy.
Various shades of brown, red and green dominate here. Fine golden contours outline each element and show the artist's ability for precision.
The scene is framed with the pattern of fine gold lace. More complex and big leafy pattern wraps around the box's sides. Each of the box's four legs is decorated with gold filigree patterns.
The box is made out of paper-mache. Black lacquer covers the exterior and red lacquer covers the interior of the box. The lid is hinged from the top of the composition. Signed with the artist's name, the title (