Show all images on one page	#002812 Title: Story of Iliya from the town of Murom Artist: Mayevskaya Tatiana Size: 24.5x17.5x4 Size (inches): 9.5x7x1.5 Price : $895 SOLD!

This traditional Palekh box is a creation of Tatiana Mayevskaya. Here she has chosen to depict an episode from the well-known Russian ancient bylina "Ilya Muromets and Solovey Razboyinik" (also known as "The Evil Bandit the Nightingale Whistler").
Ilya Muromets (or Ilya of Murom) was born in the town of Murom, and for the first 30 and 3 years of his life he was ill and could neither walk nor move himself. Legend has it that one day a Holy Man came to his cottage and commanded him to get up and walk and to give him the water. To his great astonishment Ilya rose and was able to walk. He gave the Holy Man to drink and drank himself. Within a few minutes he felt extraordinary power and strength in his limbs and entire body.
Ilya Muromets accomplished many feats, and was a faithful defender of Ancient Russia. This work depicts the most famous of his feats - the victory over Solovey Razboynik (or the Evil Bandit the Nightingale Whistler), who robbed merchants on their way to Kiev and killed people with the sound of his whistle.
The composition includes four various scenes. Two of them depict the battle of Ilya Muromets with Solovey Razboynik (the left bottom and the right upper corners), while the others show the Holy Man healing Ilya Muromets (the left bottom corner), and Ilya Muromets who shows Prince Vladimir the head of Solovey Razboynik as the proof that the road to Kiev is safe now.
The composition is painted in bright tempera paints, and richly detailed with gold and silver metal paints. Gold and silver paints are also used to decorate the box's exterior with intricate floral 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 scene, and the box rests on a flat bottom. The work is signed with the artist's name, Palekh, and the year of 2001