A Little Hump-backed horse

This attractive Palekh box was created by Ivan Beketov. It shows a scene from the Russian fairy tale "The Humpbacked Little Pony" written in verse by Peter Yershov.
The palette is bright, and filled with a rich spectrum of tempera paints. The black background provides separation of the sky and earth. Gold and aluminum paint details a majority of the scene, which makes the details bring the scene to life.
The box is constructed out of paper-mache. Black lacquer covers the exterior and red lacquer covers the interior of the box. Gold ornamentation frames the scene, and another expanded pattern, accented with aluminum, wraps around the sides of the box. The box has a hinge above the composition and rests on a flat bottom. The work is signed with the artist's name, Palekh, the title and the year of 2010.