FEDOSKINOThe term lacquer is applied not only to the special coating liquids but also to the articles so treated, whether they are made of wood, metal or paper mashe. The technique originated in Japan, China and Persia and oriental lacquer work first became known in Europe in the 16th century. By the 18th century lacquer snuffboxes decorated with miniatures and made in England, France and Germany had become fashionable. One of the greatest European centers for such items was Johann Stobwasser's manufactory in Braunschweig. In 1795 the Russian merchant Pyotr Korobov visited the Braunschweig works and his enterprising mind quickly grasped that cheap and simple articles could be mass-produced using this very durable combination of materials. Within a year he had opened his own factory on the outskirts of Fedoskino. At first it employed just over twenty people. It made most of its money from manufacturing the varnished peaks of military caps and helmets. However, the factory also became famous for its simple, most often round, snuffboxes.

The "golden age" of the Russian lacquers would begin after 1819 when the factory passed into other hands: his son-inlaw Pyotr Lukutin and the latter succeeded Korobov by his own son Alexander. The originality of the scenes depicted and the high quality of these articles made the Fedoskino masters so famous that in 1828 Lukutin was given the right to insert the Russian coat of arms and his own surname on the boxes. The most important article of production remained the snuffbox. But now it was made in a variety of shapes, symmetrical oval, and rectangular and more complex forms. The box fitted snugly in the hand and its edges were smoothly rounded. All the minor details such as the rim of the lid and the delicate frame around the miniature were finely delineated. Each of these centers follows one of the two varieties of lacquer painting, using oils or tempera. The FEDOSKINO tradition derives from Russian classical painting and miniatures of the 18th and early 19th centuries and the Russian folk arts. There three to four layers of oil paint are applied, each being dried and coated with a transparent lacquer, before the entire completed work is polished. The several layers of painting result in a tonal richness and glowing of the colors. The paints are applied in thick opaque layers and in "through-painting" with translucent paints over an under-layer of gold leaf or mother of pearl which makes the colors seem to sparkle from within. Gold, silver and bronze powders were often employed instead of gold leaf. Such multiple layers of painting are one of the striking features of the Fedoskino miniature.