Show all images on one page	#005093 Title: The Lord of the Rings Artist: Smirnova Vera Size: 18.5x24.5x4 Size (inches): 7.25x9.5x1.5 Price : $2250 SOLD!

This gorgeous box is a creation of one of the most famous Palekh artists, Vera Smirnova who is a very skilled and precise painter. She has mastered a special technique for painting faces, applying small brush strokes in layers to give them an uncommonly smooth and tender texture, something very difficult to do with egg tempera paints. Only a very select few Palekh artists are able to use this technique effectively.
The box shows several scenes from “The Lord of the Rings”, an epic high fantasy novel written by philologist J.R.R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel “The Hobbit” (1937), but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in stages between 1937 and 1949, much of it during World War II.
The artist's palette is diverse and holds a wide range of colors that she uses within this composition. She works in details with gold and aluminum paint that are fine and make the scenes radiate with a tremendous glow. Gold paint is also used to decorate the box's exterior with elaborate leafy patterns.
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 work. The lid is hinged from the left of the composition, and the box rests on legs. On the lid's interior Smirnova has written the title, the year of 2009, Palekh, and her name, all in gold.