Product Description
Birches (Березы). Natural Crushed Semi-Precious Stone Painting on Serpentine. A stately birch tree forest landscape through which a brook meanders. Hinged serpentine box is lined with velvet. 4" x 2¾"x 2" tall. A beautiful box in excellent condition. Made in Russia, circa 2000. 1 only.
The jewelry box is made of natural polished top quality Ural serpentine. Then, semi-precious stones of various types and colors (see list below) are delicately applied. The stones are carefully selected and screened for size, then washed and crushed. A design is laid out and finalized by the artist. A high-heat flame tool painstakingly melts the crushed stone and applies it in order to to reach the desired effect, just as a painter would apply paint to a canvas. Additonal three-dimensional details are obtained by melting an extra layer of crushed stone onto specific areas. Finally, larger bits of stone are chosen for color, sparkle and translucence to create the highlights. Everything is handwork.
The stones that were crushed include nephrite, lazurite, amazonite, charoite, malachite, aventurine, a variety of quartzes, including cloudy and rose, amethyst, spinel, ophicalcite, garnet and tourmaline, as well as other minerals. Several companies were involved in making and selling fancy stone boxes with painting. One of these companies, Factory "Malachite" (Фирма "Малахит") probably made this box, usually made of serpentine (змеевик). They also produced elegant wall decor.
This item is well suited for the Impoverished Russian Aristocrat Room Abroad (IRAA)