The lid is painted with a view of St Petersburg with the addition of an allegorical figure of Fame floating on clouds above and blowing her trumpet. The use of an opalescent ground over engine-turning is particularly effective here, bathing as it does the buildings and the clouds on which Fame floats in a gentle sunset glow. The subject here is a view of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, again taken from one of Joseph Hearn and Thomas Malton’s popular series of six aquatint views.
Given that two boxes painted with views of St Petersburg were made around the same time that the Théremin brothers settled in the city, it is interesting to speculate as to whether they may have had some role in initiating the project.

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