What is a Russian lacquer box?

What is a Russian lacquer box?

Russian lacquer boxes are among the most beautiful and distinctive of that country’s art achievements in the 20th century. The boxes feature intricately hand-drawn miniature paintings based on a variety of themes, including fairy tales, poems, country life, troikas, landscapes, battle scenes, and old art masterpieces.

What are lacquer boxes for?

Lacquerware are objects decoratively covered with lacquer. Lacquerware includes small or large containers, tableware, a variety of small objects carried by people, and larger objects such as furniture and even coffins painted with lacquer.

What is a Palekh box?

Palekh miniature is a Russian folk handicraft of miniature painting, which is done with tempera paints on varnished articles made of papier-mâché (small boxes, cigarette and powder cases etc.). These boxes have extraordinary detail, with fine lines painted in gold and contrasting colors. …

What are Russian lacquer boxes made of?

Papier-Mache
Russian Lacquer Boxes are made from an art form known as Papier-Mache, a type of cardboard that is made from layers of glued paper boiled in linseed oil and then carefully dried and primed.

Is lacquer waterproof?

Polyurethane, varnish, and lacquer are tried-and-true sealants with excellent waterproofing properties. They’re either brushed or sprayed onto clean, sanded wood and then allowed to dry completely, prior to the piece being lightly re-sanded and recoated.

What are lacquer boxes made of?

Russian lacquer boxes are made from papier-mache, layers of cardboard glued together and tightly compressed. When it is still wet, the papier-mache is pressed into shapes for making boxes: flat panels and curved pieces.

Which is stronger shellac or lacquer?

For these reasons we don’t recommend shellac for table top surfaces. Modern lacquers however, were invented in the 1920’s and today are made via entirely synthetic means. It is extremely durable and one of the hardest of the topcoat finishes. It is stronger and better wearing than shellac and varnish.