Box with Miniature: The Wedding Party

Niello is used both for the decorative band extending across the face of the box for defining its corners. In the center of the lid, a hexagonal-shaped miniature shows in matte enamel the bride and groom, a detail based on the wedding couple in Konstantin Makovskii's A Boyar Wedding in the Seventeenth Century (1883) now in the Hillwood Museum and Gardens. Particular attention has been given to such details as the groom's ermine collar and cuffs, the bride's kokoshnik headdress and veil, and the painted decoration on the walls of the window well.