"Queen of Spades" lacquer box

Artist:  Ekaterina Bykova
Village: Palekh
Dimensions:  9.75" x 4.75" x 1.75" 

This richly detailed Palekh lacquer box by Ekaterina Bykova captures the haunting and psychologically complex tale of The Queen of Spades by Alexander Pushkin. The narrative unfolds in a dreamlike, vertical composition, blending scenes of aristocratic elegance, obsession, and fatal chance into a cohesive tableau. At the top, framed by diaphanous curtains and a twilight sky, we see the young officer Hermann receiving a mysterious secret from the aging Countess, who clutches a small dog to her chest. Their meeting takes place near the romanticized waterways and onion-domed churches of St. Petersburg, anchoring the story in its Russian imperial setting.

The middle of the composition features the grandeur of Saint Isaac’s Cathedral and the Bronze Horseman, evoking the cold majesty and looming fate of the city itself. Swirling around these elements are delicate patterns of snow, light, and spirit, representing both the metaphysical weight of the tale and the collapse of rational order under the pressure of greed.

At the bottom, a tense gambling scene unfolds around a green table, where a group of men, candlelit and intense, engage in the high-stakes card game that seals Hermann’s doom. Overshadowing them is the solitary figure of Hermann, arms crossed, eyes cold and haunted—set against a ghostly Queen of Spades card that burns ominously nearby. The sides of the box are adorned with miniature playing cards, reinforcing the theme of fate and chance.

Executed in the traditional Palekh style with egg tempera and gold leaf on papier-mâché, Bykova’s work fuses literary drama with miniature painting’s ornate precision. This box is not merely an object of art but a layered visual retelling of one of Russian literature’s most chilling short stories.