Cigar Box

On the lid of the box is a nocturnal landscape in which a mounted warrior gazes at the moon. The image bears the initials AB in Cyrillic for a miniature painter, most probably Aleksandr Borozdin (born 1880), who worked for Vasilii Pavlovich Gurianov, a supplier of icons to Fabergé. Bordering the landscape is a band of geometric and vegetal forms. The reverse of the box is richly patterned in motifs associated with the works of Fedor Rückert. A trapezoidal panel with blossoms in red and blue over a white ground is in the centre. Above and below are abstract organic shapes in violet, orange-brown, turquoise, and green. Four cloudberry-like blossoms with bright blue triangles appear in the corners.