of a rectangular shape, the hinged cover depicting in detail a rural domestic scene, where young pioneers are winning during a chess game against an adult. The players are gathered around the table in a children's room. An interior around them features a Russian oven with a cat sleeping on it, two draped windows, a shelf with the books of fairy tales, and children's toys, such as: a ball, a teddy bear, a truck. With all these details emphasizing the cosiness of the moment, some elements, such as a portrait of Mikhail Kalinin overlooking the tournament from the wall and a lamp with a bright red bulb, carry a clear message - In with the New, out with the Old!. It also is underlined in the main subject of the painting, where the sharp-minded youth, inspired by the new Communist era, wins the old-fashioned rival, featuring an allegorical plea for the rejection of illiteracy, superstition, and devoutness in the name of progress of the Soviet people. Made of Karelian birch, decorated with a gold floral pattern on the body, the inside of the hinged cover features a motto: Smena-Smene-Idyot [A Change Goes for a Change], and a red flag with a hammer and a sickle below it. Inside of the box, there is a set of red and white chess (some figures missing) and a folding board, decorated with checkered pattern of red stars on a black ground and gilt flowers on an unpainted ground; the unfolded board measures 8 x 8.6 cm (3 1/8 x 3 3/8 in.), the box overall measures 7.5 x 10 cm (3 x 3 7/8 in.), signed on the cover N. Zinoviev lower left, inscribed and dated Palekh 1929 lower right

LOT NOTES:
Nikolai Mikhailovich Zinoviev (1888-1979) was a teacher and a director of the Palekh Art School, awarded the title of The People`s Artist of the USSR, as well as the author of several books on art of Palekh. He is particularly well-known for featuring children in his lacquer miniature painting. It is entirely possible that Nikolai Zinoviev painted himself as the adult in this scene. It is not only a physical similarity between the character and the artist that hints to this conclusion - there are a pot with paintbrushes and a rack with multiple Palekh keepsake boxes situated in the interior of the room depicted. The present lot also features a great resemblance in the painting style, as well as the subject matter, with the other works by the artist: a famous plaque Pioneers` Trial on Baba Yaga and Evil Spirits (from the Collection of Alexander Dobrovinsky) and numerous scenes featured in a desk set with anti-religious playing cards Pioneers Reforming Baba Yaga and Evil Spirits (sold at Shapiro Auctions, October 25, 2014, lot 70)

LITERATURE:
For comparable items, see Soviet Agitational Lacquered Miniature from the Collection of Alexander Dobrovinsky, (Moscow: Iskusstvo-XXI Vek, 2011), pages 148 and 325.