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Two streltsy guards wearing red tunics embroidered with pink flowers are portrayed on the front plate. They are positioned before an imposing portal and with their weapons, known as bardiches, crossed. The doors are closed with a heavy lock bearing a red wax seal adorned with the Russian double-headed eagle. The architectural surround consists of a pair of bulbous columns supporting an arch, all decorated with Usolsk-type blossoms in red, blue, orange, and green against a cream ground. Such columns were a feature of two recently erected Russian Revival buildings, the Imperial Museum of Russian History in Moscow (designed: 1872) and the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg (1883-1907).The back plate is in openwork silver gilt with a design in the form of two phoenixes flanking a flowering tree. Bordering the pierced designs are pink blossoms over blue lozenges set on a greenish white ground. On the back plate's cross rail appear a pair of marine monsters in orange and green. A distinctive feature of the filigree decoration is the ample use of wires terminating in raised silver gilt, semi-spherical drops. The stand's floor is patterned with blue, green, and orange tiles. One of this piece's unusual features is an electric fixture on the base of the stand with a cabochon garnet push. The stand is supported by four scrolled feet.