Lacquer Miniature / лаковая миниатюра

Three Palekh painted lacquer boxes. One has a Russian church on it, one has a young woman in the woods, and one has the a scene from the Russian fairytale the Turnip.

Russian lacquer art grew from icon painting. There are four mail centers of lacquer art in Russia: Palekh, Khlolui, Mstiora, and Fedoskino. Fedoskino is the oldest of the four. Each village developed its own distinctive style of lacquer art over time.

A Brief History of the Art

Kholui, Palekh, and Mstiora were centers of icon painting in the 13th century. The villages were founded by monks who fled Suzdal, running from the Tatar-Mongol invasion. Icon painting turned these villages into booming trade areas. However, at the end of the 19th century, with the development of mass-produced icons, trade fell for icons from these areas. After the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 and the adoption of a secular society, religious painting was banned and icon painters were left without work.

In Palekh, an icon painter named Ivan Golikov created the first lacquer miniatures. He continued the use of egg-tempura paints used in icons, but shifted from religious subjects to Russian folklore and fairytales. Unlike in icon painting, Golikov did not paint of wood. Rather, he painted on papier-mâché. Rooted in iconography, lacquer art from Palekh features vivid colors and stunning detail against a black lacquer background.

Fedoskino saw the start of lacquer painting in 1798. A merchant began creating cheap snuff boxes to sell to those who couldn't afford boxes made of more expensive materials like ivory or jade. The merchant, by the name of Korobv, made boxes of papier-mâché, hired artists to paint them, and finished them in lacquer. Unlike the icon painters in the other three cities, the lacquer artists in Fedoskino used oil paints.

Eventually, the business was purchased by the Lukutin family until becoming a cooperative in 1910. Lacquer art from Fedoskino is known for its distinctive use of mother of pearl or gold leaf underlay.

Most lacquer boxes are painted red inside and black on the outside. The dark background allows the details of the miniature paintings to really shine. The use of gold leaf is also prominent. You may recall this grouping of colors (gold, red, and black) from Russian khokhloma folk painting.

Advice on collecting genuine lacquer miniatures, an article in Russian Life Magazine.

Museum of Russian Icons Russian Lacquer Boxes

A 20 minute overview of Russian lacquer boxes by Erik Livingston, intern at the Museum of Russian Icons in Clinton, MA.
Lacquer box painted to depict Russian churches in the show

Russia, Golden Ring City of Yaroslavl. Traditional Russian lacquer boxes. Photo by Danita Delimont, licensed through Adobe

Palekh lacquer box painted with two men in a sled drawn by 3 red horses who are being attacked by three wolves at night

Ivan Golikov, "Troika and Wolves," miniature on a cigarette case, 1924. Wikimedia Commons

Lacquer box showing a scene from the Russian fairy tale "Prince Ivan and the Gray Wolf." A young man and a young woman riding on the back of a flying gray wolf.

A Palekh jewelry box depicting a scene from the fairy tale "Ivan Tsarevitch, the Fire Bird, and the Gray Wolf." Wikimedia Commons

Sources

Gilchrist, Cherry, "Russian Lacquer Miniatures: A mythic art," Russian Life, 2001, 44.6, 24-31.