Product Description

A miniature painting you can wear. Hand-painted in the village of Palekh and dated 2008, this black lacquer brooch carries a full folk scene rendered in a space barely two inches across. A young man in an embroidered rubakha kneels playing a shepherd’s horn. A maiden in a deep blue sarafan and flower crown listens beside him. Behind them, willows spill gold-tipped fronds and a red-roofed terem rises against the dark. The detail rewards close looking. Gold leaf traces every willow frond, every hem, every scroll on the blue skirt. Wildflowers in red and cream scatter through the grass. A rim of hand-laid gold dots frames the whole composition. Inscribed in gold Cyrillic at the lower edge: Палех 2008 — the village mark and year. The artist’s signature appears at right, also in gold. Palekh miniature painting descends directly from Russian icon workshops. Every piece is painted freehand in egg tempera, layered under lacquer, and gilded by hand. No two exist alike. Excellent condition, secure pin back, ready to wear or display. One of a kind. When it sells, there is no second.