Winter Village

Yevgenia Shatokhina of Palekh is the artist who painted this beautiful box. Here she depicts villagers enjoying the simple pleasures of winter. Yevgenia (or "Zhenya" for short, as she signs the piece) has a beautiful style that is classic Palekh, but at the same time exhibits a unique flair.
The cold light blue colors that the artist uses convey the cold winter weather. Gold and aluminum paint is used throughout the scene to outline and detail.
The box is constructed out of paper-mache. Black lacquer covers the exterior and red lacquer covers the interior of the box. For decorative purposes the artist frames the scene with rolling scrollwork, while gold vine-like filigree accented with aluminum wraps around the sides of the box. Both patterns are extremely smooth and add to the rich aesthetic nature of the box. The lid isn't hinged and the box rests on four legs. The work is signed with the artist's name, the title (“Winter”), the year of 2004 and the village of Palekh.