Up for sale is this beautiful The Princess And The Seven Bogatyrs Russian Box from the village of Kholui! The details in this box are truly amazing! The photos really don't do it justice! This Russian Lacquer Box measures approximately 6" x 4" x 1-1/2" tall and is in excellent condition! This box was purchased in the Russia for $390. At the bottom of this scene it is signed in Russian, unfortunately we cannot translate the artist's name, just the village of Kholui.
The Sleeping Princess and the 7 Bogatyrs A tale very similar to the USA version of Snow White, except it features 7 bogatyrs (warriors) instead of 7 dwarves. A long time ago there lived a princess and her widowed father. One day the tsar married a beautiful but jealous woman, who became the queen. She had a magic mirror and often asked it who was the fairest throughout the land. The mirror always answered that the queen was the most beautiful lady of all. But one day when she asked the question, her mirror said that the tsar's daughter from his first marriage was the most beautiful of them all. The queen became angry and jealous and ordered her chambermaid to take the princess into the heart of the woods and abandon her. As the princess wandered alone through the deep woods, she came across a cottage where seven bogatyrs (knights) lived and she was invited to stay with them. One of them even asked for her hand in marriage, but she was already engaged to a brave young man named Prince Elisey so she had to turn him down. Meanwhile, the jealous queen asked her magic mirror again who was the fairest throughout the land and the mirror replied again that the princess was the most beautiful one. The chambermaid was sent out again. Disguised as an old beggar woman, she gave a poisoned apple to the princess as a present. The princess ate the apple and died. The seven knights carried her in a crystal coffin to a small deserted cave. Meanwhile, ever since the princess had disappeared her fiancee Prince Elisey had been trying to find her. He went to the four corners of the earth, asking the sun and moon where she was, but they could not tell him. At last he asked the wind, who gave him directions to the cave where the princess lay. When Elisey saw his beloved princess, he broke into sobs, then hit the crystal coffin with all his might, and the princess magically came to life! When they returned to her home, the queen died of rage and grief when she saw the princess alive and well. The princess and Elisey married and lived happily ever after.
Kholui art is distinguished for it's more concrete and picturesque character as compared to Palekh and Mstera.It employs a wide range of warm ground colors , with preference for yellows, browns and reds, joined with a sparing ornament. In distinction from Mstera the Kholui landscapes lacks the formers light-colored receding prospects and comes out as an element than underlines and deepens the content; it is often symbolic. Kholui art also depicts figures on a large scale. Kholui miniatures are more realistic, compares to Palekh's and Mstera's ones, but yet more decorative than those of Fedoskino.
The art of painting on papier-mâché boxes began in the late eighteenth century in Danilkova, a village near Moscow. Soon it was brought to Fedoskino, Palikh, Kholui, and Mystera where it is still a thriving art form. The Russian lacquer boxes are primarily constructed of cardboard that is glued, pressed together, and cut to specific sizes. Once oven dried and cured, several coats of lacquer are applied inside and out and the boxes are cleaned and polished to a smooth finish. The box is ready to be transformed into a small miracle reflecting the artist's reflection of a chosen fairy tale, song, legend, opera, or ballet. Since these stories are passed down generation to generation, each Russian lacquer box may represent the version of the tale as told to the artist.
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