This very old hand-carved miniature, scene of The Annunciation was made from box-tree (holy-tree). The miniature is mounted in silver frame and hangs on a leather cord. It was made in 1980 in Bulgaria and artist's initials are hand-carved on the back.

Interesting fact:
The box-tree, (holy-tree) is unique and very valuable because it grows only 3.94" (10 cm) in ten years. The artist was traveling through Greece on his way to Bulgaria. In a small village where he stopped to rest, he saw a good amount of this special tree in the yard of a small house. An elderly woman told him that "the pieces of this tree had been there for a while and that he can have as many as he wants". That is how he obtained this very priceless art material.

Artist: Wladimir Zlatkov