Show all images on one page	#007230 Title: Rat-Catcher or The Pied Piper Artist: Lebedeva Marie Size: 7x4.5x9.5 Size (inches): 2.75x1.75x3.75 Price : $1650 SOLD!

This interesting box was painted by a leading Palekh artist Lebedeva Marie.
The work is based on a story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin (German town) and the subject of a legend concerning the departure or death of a great many children from the town of Hamelin (Hameln), Lower Saxony, Germany, in the Middle Ages. The earliest references describe a piper, dressed in multicolored clothing, leading the children away from the town never to return, because they all drown in the river. In the 16th century the story was expanded into a full narrative, in which the piper is a rat-catcher hired by the town to lure rats away with his magic pipe. When the citizenry refuses to pay for this service, he retaliates by turning his magic on their children, leading them away as he had the rats. This version of the story spread as a fairy tale. This version has also appeared in the writings of, among others, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the Brothers Grimm and Robert Browning.
The composition is masterfully designed. Skillfully painted architecture surrounds the characters and the bright blue area of the river. The architecture composed of a multitude of towers, balconies, roofs, and arches is a real embellishment of the work. The use of gold contouring within the scene is astounding.
The box is constructed out of paper-mache. Black lacquer covers the exterior and red lacquer covers the interior of the box. The box has a hinge affixed from the top of the composition, and rests on a flat bottom. This original author's work is signed and dated by the artist on the exterior's bottom.