A group of young ladies and one lad meet near the village well in this lacquer box by Fedoskino artist M. Khasanova. She actually titled the box "The Snow Maiden", so we are guessing that the young man is Lel and the girl in the white shawl is the Snow Maiden. We'd like to view it, though, as more of a slice-of-life scene from rural Russia with genuie salt-of-the-earth people taking a break from their daily chores to engage in a some friendly conversation and enjoy the moment. (Sorry, we can't help to delve into a little shameless self promotion here, as we sell shawls similar to what the Snow Maiden is wearing on our website. Check out
this link to look at or buy one.) The scene is beautiful drawn with lovely colors on the coats of the group. Radiant gold provides on the shirt of the young man, and a few other spots, enliven the palette even more. The base color of the box is black and the interior is red. On the front side there is a drawing of an olden wooden fence on a snowy day, on the back side a drawing of plants in winter. The box is made out of high quality papier mache and has a hinge at the top. It is signed with the name of the artist, village, year and title. A lovely traditional scene from the village of Fedoskino.

Lacquerbox Condition Ratings

Surface Condition (exterior)	Surface Condition (interior/bottom)	Box Materials and Soundness	Hinge and Lid Placement	Signature	Total Rating	Mother-of-pearl Condition
9.5	9.5	10.0	10.0	10.0	49	N/A

(Each category rated 1-10. For low scores, look for explanation in the description of box. In general, any total rating over 40 is excellent. For more information on rating system, click here.)