The sky is painted with delicate colors that are mixed with aluminum powder. This makes the sky shimmer and glow, not unlike how a real sunset would look like from afar. The detail in the water accurately shows the fluid and natural contours of the water hitting the boat, which creates a wake. The ship itself is painted with good angles and is shown from a good perspective. The box is constructed out of paper-mache made in the village of Fedoskino.
Black lacquer covers the exterior and red lacquer covers the interior of the box.
Due to the almost 26 years that this box has existed it has picked up two chip in it s lacquer on the bottom edges of the box. The box has a hinge located above the composition and rests on a flat bottom.