Show all images on one page	#006135 Title: Baba Yaga/Geese and Swans Artist: Bykova Katherina Size: 10x13x4 Size (inches): 4x5x1.5 Price : $475 SOLD!

On this box talented Katherina Bykova from the village of Palekh has depicted Baba Yaga.
Baba Yaga is the most famous figure in Russian fairy tales and is an archetype in literature that represents evil. However, in some stories Baba Yaga helps people overcome obstacles. Like in Marya Morevna, when she lent Tsar Ivan a horse that was able to outrun Koschei the Deathless' steed. She will forever be remembered in the lines of Pushkin's famous tale Ruslan and Ludmila when he writes:

On chicken feet a hut is set
With neither door not window showing...
See Baba Yaga's mortar glide
All by itself, with her astride

The level of depth and color is so intense that one simply cannot stop staring at this composition. The palette is bright, vivid, and is exploited, by the artist, to its fullest potential. The action within the scene is so animated that one almost expects the images to start moving. By keeping the action very close up, the viewer gets the most intimate possible portrayal of the subjects.
A deep blue above the trees shows the moonlit sky. Gold and aluminum are used to enhance the colors' quality, as well highlighting the bulk of the details. The gold and aluminum are found all over the landscape, in the trees, bushes, animals and ground.
The box is made out of paper-mache. The exterior of the box is painted black; red lacquer covers the interior of the box. Elegant gold pattern can be found wrapping around the sides of the box. The box has a hinge to its left and rests on four small round legs. It is signed with the artist's name and title inside the box.