Casket with Floral Decoration. Kholmogory(Холмого́ры), Arkhangelsk Oblast. Russian Empire. 18th/19th century.
Carved bone panels with engraved polychrome patterns are set upon a wood carcass. Fretted open-work panels reveal colored foil under thin sheets of mica. The interior is lined with period Venetian marbled paper.*

24 x 16 x 13 cm.

The Arkhangelsk Oblast region is located within the Arctic Ocean Basin encompassing the northernmost point in Russia. As early as the 14th century, this remote region became an important commercial trading post for Slavic, Finnic and Baltic peoples.
The art of bonecarving (резьба по кости) was popular in Kholmogory from the 17th to 19th centuries. Local craftsmen used readily accessible materials including moose antlers, seal bones, walrus tusks or “fish teeth" and fossilized mammoth ivory. Traditional handicrafts such as vanity boxes, jewelry and other small personal objects were produced in numbers and continually popular with visiting sailors and merchants. Masters were even summoned to create magnificent works for the Kremlin Armory by decree of the Tsar. The largest collection of these works today remains at the State Historical Museum of Moscow.

*Custom WM jewelry box interior fitted without the use of adhesive to retain its integrity.

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