The principle characters of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen", along with a few threatening creatures, are drawn within the wintry surroundings in this fine box by notable Kholui artist N. Yudina. Gerda, to the left, is looking for Kai, who is trying to spell the word "eternity" with splinters of ice. (To read the whole story, you can look on wikipedia here. ) The beautiful but cold Snow Queen looks on at the right, and knows her hold on Kai will soon be short lived; she must soon return him to Gerda.
As would be expected from a top artist, Yudina painted this good sized box with great skill, detail and color. All the people and animals are fascinating in this oval scene, each skillfully positioned and looking at one another, except for Kai who is sticking to his task. The composition is framed by an extravageent gold and silver ornament with patches of green. The box is made out of high quality papier mache and has a hinge at the top. It sits on four round legs. The box is signed both on the top with the name of the artist, village and title, as well as underneath the lid with the same information and the fact that this is a "Avtorskaya Rabota" (an original work of the artist.)

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.)