COVER N.51 - Russia

Postmark: Tyumen, 28OCT2021 
Posted on the 23rd October; received on the 10th November
__________________________________________________________________________________

A very nice envelope, with an aura of ancient times evocative of explorers and exploration, fell into my letterbox, after a long, but rather quick, journey from the city of Tyumen in Siberia. Thank you so much for your lovely letter with Postcards #48 inside ,Victoria!

Victoria was extremely kind and used no less than 4 nice stamps on the cover. left to right:

30 Ruble stamp issued on 17MAR2021, part of a same face value 4 stamp set dedicated to  Fedoskino miniature lacquer painting, a type of folk art that emerged in the 18th century  in the city of Fedoskino, consisting of miniatures painted with oil paints on papier mâché.

The images on the stamps are those of lacquer boxes from the collection of the Moscow Regional Museum of Folk Art Crafts and besides "Ruslan and Lyudmila", the main characters of Pushkin's famous epic poem, that would be converted into an opera by Glinka, painted on a 1971 box by M.S. Chizhov, there are stamps featuring images of the following works: Tea Party (1946) by V.I. Lavrov; The Firebird (1959) by S.V. Monashov; and Ivan da Marya (1989) by Yu.V. Dotsenko.

6 Ruble stamp issued on 24JUL2006, part of a two same value stamp set, commemorating the 150th Birth Anniversary of A. M. Vasnetsov. The stamp is illustrated with the painting Novodevichy Monastery Towers, of 1926.

Apollinary Mikhaylovich Vasnetsov (August 6, 1856 – January 23, 1933)  was a brother of the more famous Viktor Vasnetsov (May 15 (N.S.), 1848 – July 23, 1926), who would also be his mentor.  I confess my ignorance as to the works of both artists but the internet again came to my rescue and I could see that A.M Vastenov was also a graphic artist and while his brother's work shows an intense dedication to mythological and historic scenes, Appolinary's work verges more on landscape and common day life scenes, both showing, at least to me, a clear evolution in their way of painting from the more subdued, if not, at times, sombre,  romantic school to the new winds of modernism.

7.5 Ruble stamp issued on 27AUG2008, part of a four same value stamp series dedicated to Decorative-Applied Arts of Dagestan. 

Other than the Kerchief Chain with Pendants, on the stamp on the envelope, the set also included stamps illustrated with a head ornament called a "Kuk’em", a  "Marg’al", a sewn suspension from a Wedding Dress, and a dagger in a scabbard. Other that the image of the actual piece, the stamps also include an image of someone actually wearing it, what makes it easier to understand its functional characteristics.   On a personal note, I quite like the quality of the illustration on the stamp.

8.5 Ruble definitive stamp issued on 26May2011, as part of the year's emmission of  the Coat of Arms

definitive series started in 2010, depicting the coat of arms of  Irkutsk (Siberia). The other stamp of the series issued on the same date is the 11.80 Rubles stamp, with the coat of arms of the  Komi Republic.