#003759 Title: How I wish to have a Troyka... Artist: Dobrin Yevgeniy Size: 25x9.5x5.5 Size (inches): 9.75x3.75x2.25 Price: $1250

This is definitely a quality work from a talented Kholuy artist, Yugeniy Dobrin. Yugeniy has created multiple original works, including this one. The box is painted on the traditional theme of speeding winter troika. A loving couple sits inside the sledge, and three beautiful steeds with slender legs and luxuriant manes carry them to the village church where they intend to get married.
Blue greenish tones of tempera paints dominate here as the action takes place in winter. The costumes of the characters, the architecture, the sledge, the harness of the steeds are skillfully detailed with gold paint. Silver paint is used to create a sparkle of the snow. The box's exterior is decorated with Dobrin's signature style luxuriant ornaments painted in gold and silver paints.
The box is constructed from paper-mache. Black lacquer is used to paint the exterior of the box while red lacquer completes the interior of the work. The lid is hinged from the top of the composition, and the box rests on four legs. The work is signed with the artist's name, Kholui, and the title (“If only the Troika”) at the bottom of the composition. Inside the lid, Dobrin has again provided the title (the title for this box is an extract from a Russian folk song that can be translated into English as ‘If only the night would be darker, if only the troika would be faster'), the year, Kholui, and his name, as well as an indication that this is an original work. He also has left here his signature.