This 1970s figurine shows a Russian woman reading a book.

It is marked with a duck stamp, which was in use in the 1972 - 1986 period.

The figurine depicts woman in traditional Russian folk striped dress and a cat, which nuzzles her legs. This item is the excellent example of recognizable Gzhel ceramic style, which combines naive folk art with elaborate style of artistic interpretation and also a touch of humour.

The Gzhel figurine was designed by L.P. Azarova. She was born October 24, 1919 in Borovsk, Kaluga region. In July 1941 Lyudmila Azarova volunteered to the front. She served in the Southwestern Front as a nurse. In 1949, Lyudmila Azarova started to study at the sculpture department of the Moscow Institute of Applied and Decorative Arts.

Since 1954, she began working as an artist-sculptor at Turyginski plant. Since the mid-1950s, works by L. Azarova became the determining factor in modern Gzhel ceramic. In her creative assets are more than 400 original designs.

Character of her painting is dictated by the peculiarities of form. In Azarova's compositions dominate both domestic themes (family, motherhood, rural labor) as well as fabulous, mythological scenes.