Flowing turquoise and golden lines flow from one side of the box to the other, parting enough to reveal the face of this lovely woman. As usual, Fedoskino artist Svetlana Chirkova painted the beauty with great skill and femininity. She entitled the work "The Siren" and it is easy to see why. Who can resist her charms? Her face and hair are done with unbelievable precision and eye for detail. You could look for a long time and not find a single strand out of place. On a miniature scale, she paints the female ideal of pure beauty as close as one can get to perfection. The flowing lines continue to the bottom part of this half spherical box and just inside of it, too. A nice little design also jazzes up the area under the lid. The box has a hinge and is made out of high quality papier mache. If there was a flaw here, it would be that the top and bottom half are just a fraction of a centimeter off in their alignment. We have seen this many times before, though, and it is especially common for boxes of this shape. The truth is, though, that most people would not even notice or think twice about this, parcticularly because the power of Chirkova's artwork so commands one's attention. The box is signed at the bottom with the name of the artist, title, village and year. Another sensational work from this top Fedoskino 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	9.5	10.0	48.5	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.)