Featured Story/Scene this Russian Lacquer Box is Telling?

Hello,

I found this today. It’s the nicest one I have found as of yet. Although I don’t know what scene it depicts. I know the left side says Palekh, and I think the artist’s name is Smirnova. But does anyone know what H.U. stands for, and if there was more than one artist from Palekh named Smirnova? Does anyone know what story this box is telling?
It’s 5”x5” with a hinged lid.

Thank you for any info you may have!

 

My guess would be One Thousand and One Nights, The Tale of Scheherazade.

 

Thanks for your input. I’ll look into that!

 

I see lots of Tianex plates, but not many boxes.

 

It should be the first and middle initial of the painter's name. And those are Cyrillic letters. In our alphabet they are equivalent to N. I. Russians often sign things with last name first. And these boxes usually have initials, not the full first names of the people who painted them.

Beautiful box! You probably know that 1982 is the date. I'm not sure what the 816 is.

 

Thank you for that information! This is what I found for what the number stands for…

“The number has no relation to the painting, only to the blank papier mache box. A box with #1240 written in the margin simply means that the papier mache blank is number 1240 of the boxes of that same shape and size produced in that year. Each of those 1240 boxes may have a completely different painting, and the numbering starts over again with the new year.”

 

I found three or four through a Google search. None have those initials, though.

 

Thank you, that's good to know!

 

Me too. I’ll keep looking though, especially now that I know what the actual initials are.