A Virtual Showroom of Miniature Masterpieces: Russian Lacquer Boxes

Oct 30, 2020 – March 28, 2021

We hope you lot enjoy this virtual exhibition which features many of the over 100 lacquer boxes being shown at the Museum. Click on whatever image to enlarge it and see the fine details on these miniature masterpieces.

This history of Russian lacquer boxes, widely renowned for their exquisite detail and luminous colors, is a fascinating story of the artist as entrepreneur, drawing on and adapting local traditions. This art form first appeared in Russian federation in the eighteenth century, when Peter the Peachy deputed lacquered panels, painted by Russian iconographers, to decorate a room at his Monplaisir Palace. Equally with other decorative arts introduced during Peter's reign, the manufacture of lacquerware was gradually taken over by private companies and subsequently, in the Soviet period, by cooperative artels.

Historically, workshops in the villages of Feodskino, Palekh, Kholui, and Mstera were the primary producers of Russian lacquer boxes. Each village is known for its distinctly recognizable manner, although thematic considerations profoundly vary. Some depict scenes from the lives of both country and urban center dwellers while others are based on fairy tales, landscapes, cityscapes, and reproductions of famous paintings.

In 1795, a merchant named Pavel Korbachov purchased a small village well-nigh Feodoskino called Danilkovo, where he established a manufactory producing lacquered snuff boxes. He hired German artists to railroad train his workers, most of whom were his serfs. They formed snuff boxes out of papier-mâché and decorated them with miniature paintings using oil-based paints, ofttimes employing a realistic fashion.
For centuries, workshops in Palekh, Kholui, and Mstera produced icons, and by the mid-eighteenth century, the economy of these three villages had become entirely reliant on their production. Later the Revolution, artists could no longer work as iconographers and sought piece of work elsewhere. In 1924, Ivan Golikov, an iconographer from Palekh, helped found the Artel of Former Painting. He and other artists produced tempera-painted lacquer boxes with a distinctive style based on traditional icons; similar workshops before long opened in Mstera and Kholui.

For decades the factories and workshops were strictly regulated by the collectives under the Soviet Union. When that system collapsed, an influx of inexpensive imitations, partnered with a struggling economy, led to a steep driblet in the boxes' value. Many young artists take become iconographers due to the decline of demand for lacquered art and religious renaissance in Russian federation. Despite this, workshops in the 4 villages proceed to produce lacquer art today, preserving the arts and crafts for generations to come up.

This exhibition is made possible through the generous gift of lacquer boxes from the individual drove of Dennis H. and Marian S. Pruslin.
A special thank you to Erik Livingston for his comprehensive work translating and researching the collection.

Characteristics of the Four Villages

Fedoskino

Fedoskino, virtually Moscow, is the smallest of the four villages. It is the oldest lacquer box manufacturer in Russian federation and the first in the area to work with papier-mâché. Lacquer painting began here in the eighteenth century when Ivan Korobov opened a factory, later known as the Lukutin Factory, which specialized in papier-mâché objects. Artists from Fedoskino ofttimes used gold, silverish, or mother-of-pearl for their beautifully detailed boxes.

Palekh

Palekh, located virtually Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow, is historically known for icon painting and began producing lacquer boxes later the Revolution. Master iconographers from Palekh painted papier-mâché boxes, applying the principles learned from painting icons. It did not take long for these miniature masterpieces to become equally renowned as the Palekh icons. The artists used bright tempera pigment over a lacquered black background to represent themes from daily life, fairy tales, literary works, and folk songs.

Mstera

Mstera, or Mstyora, is close to Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow. The hamlet adult around the Theophany Monastery, which may have contributed to the establishment of icon workshops. Afterwards the Revolution, Mstera artists began producing various decorative arts, including lacquer boxes. Mstera boxes are known for their multi-colored base coats, a trend toward realism, and minimal employ of gold leaf.

Kholui

Kholui, or Kholuy, is a rural village nigh Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow. Its economy is primarily based on artisan crafts, such every bit textiles, woodworking, and well-nigh notably lacquer boxes. According to local accounts, icon painting in this region goes back to the thirteenth century. Following the Revolution, this practice shifted to lacquer boxes and other artisan crafts. The Kholui mode is the youngest of the four villages and is divers by its warm color palette of deep yellows, browns, and reds.

Portraits and Reproductions

Many lacquer artists, especially those from Fedoskino, emulated well-known European and Russian paintings and styles. They painted portraits that were commissioned or that depicted famous historical figures. On view in this exhibition are examples of classical, neoclassical, and art deco styles, as well every bit a recreation of John Everett Millais's 1886 painting Bubbles, which hangs in the Lady Lever Art Gallery in Liverpool.

Folk Scenes and Fairy Tales

Russian miniatures tell exceptional stories: artists use course and color to draw history, fairy tales, folklore, and scenes of daily life on the boxes.

Maybe most common amid the folk motifs is the troika, a sleigh or wagon pulled past a team of three horses. Both winter and summer troikas symbolize joyous festivities, gamble, and the vast expanses of Russian terrain.

Other pop folk scenes include young love, peasant life, and tea-drinking, as well equally ceremonies, as shown on the box entitled Presentation of Breadstuff and Table salt. By tradition, when honored guests are welcomed into the abode, bread and salt are presented on outstretched hands that are covered with a rushnyk (woven textile). A similar ritual takes place at weddings: when the married couple returned from the church building, their parents would greet them with bread and salt on a rushnyk.

Landscape and Architecture

Easily the nigh common theme for lacquer boxes is landscapes, and Russia's lush forests and expansive countryside provide a wealth of artistic inspiration. Often the artist incorporates an idyllic village or a church, or cityscapes of Moscow and Saint Petersburg. In these landscapes, artists romanticize the seasons using such motifs as the birds returning in leap, the summer sun shining through green leaves, glorious fall hues, and onion domes blanketed in snow.