There are couple scratches to the lacquered surface but no crazing or uneven surfaces other than the spot at about 8 o'clock. The painted top surface is in very good condition - there is no visible damage to the painted scene. The work usually represents themes from real life, fairy tales, literary works, and folk songs.Condition: Good authentic condition. Palekh is the most renowned of four such famous villages, the others being Kholuy, Mstyora, and Fedoskino, each producing similar, but clearly distinct artistic style.They used mainly tempera paints of bright colors and painted over a black background. Following the October Revolution with its outspoken atheist ideology, around 1923, the Palekh masters of iconography began to paint papier-mâché boxes applying the same principles they had learned from painting icons. Today, Palekh is known primarily for Palekh miniature. The village emerged as a leading center of Russian icon- and mural-painting in the nineteenth century. Palekh has a very long history in Russian iconography, the art of painting Russian Orthodox icons for homes and churches. Palekh and Mstyora are villages with population about 5000 each. If you look on a map the closest international airport to the area where artists created these boxes would be Moscow. Mstyora is a village close to Palekh village where the box was manufactured.These boxes were manufactures in Ivanovo Region of Russia where both Palekh and Mstyora are located. This could to some extent explain lack of the artist's full name on his work.If you look at the bottom left corner of the design you'll see a word that starts with 'M' and reads Mstyora in Russian. To me English writing on a traditional box represents the fact that the box was intended to be sold abroad or presented as a gift to a foreign guest.
The bottom of the box is marked 'Made in USSR' in English.
I believe it will take a while to sell this masterpiece for anything close to the price quote I found, so I'm pricing it to sell.The top of the box is marked 'General Toptygin' which is the name for the box design - a rather well known Russian fairy tale about a bear (you see him in the sled carried away by Troika).
When I price my items I take into consideration condition, design and market. A smaller lacquer box of comparable design created by him is currently available on a Russian antique Palekh website for a whopping $950. I've done some research and have learned that unknown Soviet artist who signed lacquer boxes 'M.B.' worked in the village of Mstyora in 1960-1965. Entirely hand painted by the artist it is at least 50 years old.The box is signed 'M.B.'. This is a larger than average box, measuring aprroximately 7'' x 5''. Up for auction is a true find - authentic 1960s Palekh lacquer box.
0 kommentar(er)
