RussianArtSoul.com

Title

Russian gifts - on-line shop

Contact

c/o RUSSIANARTSOUL.COM
Vancouver WA
United States 98682
+1.360-449-5933

Description

The history of Russian lacquer dated back to the XVIII century, when the first lacquer art workshop was opened by the Russian merchant Korobov on the outskirts of the village of Fedoskino. His enterprising mind quickly grasped that cheap and simple articles could be mass-produced using such durable materials as paper-mache and lacquer.

The most important article of production were the snuffboxes, made in a variety of shapes - ovals, rectangulars and more complex forms. Most were decorated with depictions of of domestic everyday scenes, but there were als historical and mythological subjects, landscapes and portraits. The pictures were produced by the aplication of several layers of oil paints, thus following the techniques that became wide-spread and in the classical miniature. The box making technology remains unchainged up to the modern days. One after another, up to four layers of paint are added and worked over: ground tinting, outlines, successive translucent layers and, finally, highlights.

Each in turn is dried and sealed with lacquer. In certain place mother of pearl is cut onto the surface of the object, layers of gold leaf are glued to it and powdered silver dusted on. The richness of texture is attained by an alteration between thickly painted colors covered with a transclucent top layer, and "through-painted"areas where one color shines through another.

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