This is a beautiful and unique Russian papier mache trinket/jewellery box portraying a lovely LADY with a cigarette, Poster for 'Job' cigarette paper by Alphonse Maria Mucha, hand painted.

The box is signed with the Artists name ZEMINA (in russian letters). This is a fabulous oil painted picture and the photo dosen't do it justice.

The box measures 10.5 cm ( 4 1/8 inches) long, 8 cm (3 3/16 inches) wide, 1.8 cm deep.

Poster for 'Job' cigarette paper (1896)

This is perhaps one of Mucha’s best-known advertising posters, with numerous editions subsequently published in a variety of formats for international markets. This poster established the iconic image of the ‘Mucha woman’ with her swirls of exaggeratedly abundant hair. 'JOB' is a trademark for the Joseph Bardou Company,manufacturers of cigarette papers.
In this poster, Mucha placed the prominent female figure against a background featuring Job monograms. Holding a lighted cigarette in her hand, the woman leans her head backward sensually, and the rising smoke forms an arabesque, intertwining with her hair and the company logo.

Mucha introduced a Byzantine effect, as seen in the Gismonda poster, with the border decoration inspired by mosaic work which adds an air of dignity to a commercial poster.In 1898 Mucha produced another design for Job which is known as 'great Job'. Alphonse Maria Mucha was born in the town of Ivancice, Moravia(today's region of Czech Republic). His singing abilities allowed him to continue his education through high school in the Moravian capital of Brno, even though drawing had been his first love since childhood. He worked at decorative painting jobs in Moravia, mostly painting theatrical scenery, then in 1879 moved to Viennato work for a leading Viennese theatrical design company, while informally furthering his artistic education. When a fire destroyed his employer's business in 1881 he returned to Moravia, doing freelance decorative and portrait painting. Count Karl Khuenof Mikulovhired Mucha to decorate Hrušovany Emmahof Castlewith murals, and was impressed enough that he agreed to sponsor Mucha's formal training at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts.

Mucha moved to Parisin1887, and continued his studies at Académie Julianand Académie Colarossiwhile also producing magazine and advertising illustrations. Around Christmas 1894, Mucha happened to drop into a print shop where there was a sudden and unexpected demand for a new poster to advertise a play starring Sarah Bernhardt, the most famous actress in Paris, at the Théâtre de la Renaissance. Mucha volunteered to produce a lithographedposter within two weeks, and on 1 January 1895, the advertisement for Gismonda appeared on the streets of the city. It was an overnight sensation and announced the new artistic style and its creator to the citizens of Paris. Bernhardt was so satisfied with the success of that first poster that she entered into a 6 years contract with Mucha.
Mucha produced a flurry of paintings, posters, advertisements, and book illustrations, as well as designs for jewellery, carpets, wallpaper, and theatre sets in what was initially called the Mucha Stylebut became known as Art Nouveau. Mucha's works frequently featured beautiful healthy young women in flowing vaguely Neoclassicallookingrobes, often surrounded by lush flowers which sometimes formed haloesbehind the women's heads. In contrast with contemporary poster makers he used paler pastel colors. The 1900 Universal Exhibition in Parisdiffused the "Mucha style" internationally. He decorated the Bosnia and HerzegovinaPavilion and collaborated in the Austrian one. His Art Nouveaustyle was often imitated. However, this was a style that Mucha attempted to distance himself from throughout his life; he insisted always that, rather than adhering to any fashionable stylistic form, his paintings came purely from within and Czech art. He declared that art existed only to communicate a spiritual message, and nothing more; hence his frustration at the fame he gained through commercial art, when he wanted always to concentrate on more lofty projects that would ennoble art and his birthplace.

A must have for Mucha collector. It will make a great gift !!!

The boxes most widely sought after come from one of four small Russian villages -Palekh, Fedoskino, Kholui, and Mstera. Special schools have been established at these places where artists train for four years before they become members of each village's art community. Each village also has its unique style.

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