The color palette consists of white, blue, red, pink, and soft natural skin tones. The darker background really makes her almost pop off of the box because she seems so bright and well lit. Her exposed body is painted expertly and the artist does not stray from the correct anatomical proportions of the human female body. Her facial expression also looks very natural and is not forced by the artist s hand. The box is constructed out of paper-mache made in the village of Fedoskino.
Black lacquer is used to paint the exterior of the box and red lacquer to paint the interior.
To decorate the box the artist chooses, instead of painting the filigree, to apply individual pieces of polished aluminum into precise patterns all along the box to look like filigree. This is an extremely difficult process, which has to be done in haste because the pieces have to be applied to the box during the lacquer s drying process. The box has a hinge located to the left of the portrait and rests on a flat bottom.