The floppy earred dog is gently rocking the cradle of the child, and singing the infant to sleep with a soft Russian lullaby. The artist, Tatyana Smirnova, writes the words to it on the inside of the lid: "Lullaby, lullaby, where are you small pigeons, fly over here to the bed, and start cooing". The white pigeons, of course, are coming, and so are the cats, who are carrying two big tomes "Sleep I" and "Sleep II". The wise owl, meanwhile, watches over a couple going for a walk. Perhaps they are the parents of the child. The entire scene has been drawn exceedingly well. Shades of blues and greens are mainly used to draw the objects and Smirnova accents them with fine lines of gold leaf. The colors are perfect for the subject matter and even the moon has decided to take a rest. Two fine gold leaf borders are painted on the top and sides. The high quality papier mache box has a hinge at the top and sits on four small legs. It is signed with the name of the artist, village, title and year. An identifying mark of the artist, TS, is drawn on the bottom of the box.
This box is well drawn and quite adorable, and will undoubtedly get one thinking about his or her childhood and the imaginative wonders in that time of life.

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.)