Show all images on one page	#005691 Title: The Tale of the Bear Who Found a Pipe Artist: Khromov Yevgeniy Size: 7.5x9x3.5 Size (inches): 3x3.5x1.25 Price : $650 SOLD!

This interesting box is an author's unique creation of E. Khromov from the village of Mstera. It shows some scenes from the children's fairy-tale "The Tale of the Bear Who Found a Pipe" written by the Soviet children's poet, Sergey Mikhalkov. In this tale the Bear found a pipe in the forest that was lost by hunters. He started to smoke a pipe every day and liked this procedure very much. When the tobacco was finished, he began to smoke dry leaves. He stopped bathing, fishing, and gathering berries. Very soon he fell ill. His friends, the Fox and the Wolf, advised him to consult the Woodpecker who worked as a doctor in the forest. The Woodpecker explained the Bear that smoking was the reason of his serious disease. The Bear was very afraid and very soon gave up smoking.
The scenes from the tale are depicted on the box's lid and on the reverse side of the box's bottom. The scenes are painted in the cartoonish style using bright tempera paints. Each scene is framed with a thin gold line while the box's sides are decorated with a gorgeous filigree pattern painted in gold and accented with aluminum.
The box is constructed from paper-mache. Black lacquer is used to paint the exterior of the piece while red lacquer completes the interior of the box. A hinge is fastened from the left of the scenes, and the box rests on a flat bottom. The work is signed the artist's name, Mstera and the title in gold paint on the lid's interior. This inscription is supplemented with an elegant filigree design.