Swineherd

Yevgenia Shatokhina of Palekh is the artist who painted the composition on this box. 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.
Here the artist has chosen to depict a scene from the tale “The Swineherd” written by Hans Christian Andersen. This tale tells about the capricious Princess who was punished for her self-conceit and foolishness. The artist uses a variety of paints to create a believable world on the box. The detail is fine, precise, and is mostly added using gold paints.
The box's exterior is decorated with beautiful gold ornaments; on the box's sides these ornaments are accented with aluminum.
The box is constructed from paper-mache. Black lacquer is used to paint the exterior of the box while red lacquer completes the interior of the work. The lid isn't hinged, and the box rests on four legs. The work is signed with the artist's name, the title, the year of 2004 and the village of Palekh.