When I visited Moscow in the late-Soviet era, enterprising young men would come up to me muttering “lacquer box? lacquer box?” under their breath. They wanted American dollars, and a lot of them, for what could charitably described as cheap touristy knockoffs of folk-art painted boxes.

If the boxes had been painted like this (popup warning), I might have been more enthused:

erotic folk art russian style

erotic laquer boxes