Stars above, and a sealed barrel riding the crest of the wave
Ivan Bilibin — The Barrel Floats upon the Sea (1905) | Russian Fairy Tale Illustration Print
Note: Framed prints require slightly longer production time
Why this print is worth it
Archival giclée on Hahnemühle fine-art paper
Made as fine art, not as a mass-market poster.
We reproduce each work from high-quality source material using a 12-ink archival giclée process on Hahnemühle fine-art paper, chosen to preserve the colour, detail and character of the original as faithfully as possible.
“The quality of color and paper is museum quality and well worth the purchase price.”
Free worldwide shipping
And we cover import duties.
Wherever you are, shipping is free.
We ship worldwide at no additional shipping cost to you. If import duties are imposed on your order, we pay them too.
No shipping surcharge. No import-duty surprise.
Made to order. Protected if anything goes wrong.
If your artwork arrives damaged, defective, or incorrect, we'll replace it at no cost to you.
A sealed barrel rides the crest of a green wave under a night sky scattered with white, gold and pink stars. Bilibin builds the whole sheet from outline and flat colour — three or four greens for the water, a band of dark blue for the horizon, and spray drawn as curling pale tendrils that climb up into the star field until sea and sky run together. A woven ornamental band in olive and dark green closes the image. Beneath it, in his own red lettering, are Pushkin's lines: In the blue sky the stars are shining, in the blue sea the waves are beating; a cloud moves across the sky, a barrel floats upon the sea. From The Tale of Tsar Saltan, 1905.
Ivan Bilibin (1876–1942) studied under Ilya Repin and joined the Mir Iskusstva (World of Art) circle in St Petersburg, building a graphic language out of Russian peasant embroidery, lubok broadsheets and the ornament of seventeenth-century manuscripts. From 1899 he drew a celebrated series of fairy-tale books for the Expedition for the Preparation of State Papers, working in firm black outline and flat colour so that every page could be reproduced exactly in chromolithography. He designed for the opera stage, spent the 1920s and early 1930s in Cairo and Paris, and returned to Leningrad in 1936, where he died during the wartime siege in 1942. His plates remain the images through which most readers picture Baba Yaga, the Firebird and the Tsar Saltan, and the original drawings are held by the Tretyakov Gallery and the State Russian Museum.
Printed as a museum-grade giclée on Hahnemühle fine art paper using 12-ink archival pigment printing. Available handframed in FSC-certified wood with optional float glass, or unframed. Ships worldwide with free delivery to 30+ countries.
Choose options
NO VAGUE “MUSEUM QUALITY” CLAIMS. JUST THE SPECIFICATIONS.
FAQ
Fine-art quality should be something you can verify. Here is exactly what goes into a 9 Art Prints reproduction.
What makes a 9 Art Prints reproduction different?
A lot of art-print sellers describe their work as “museum quality” without telling you what that actually means. We prefer specifications. Our fine-art reproductions are produced using professional giclée printing on genuine Hahnemühle fine-art papers, selected to suit the artwork. We work from high-resolution source material and prepare each image specifically for print, with close attention to colour, detail and tonal range.
What paper do you use?
Our principal fine-art papers include Hahnemühle German Etching 310gsm and Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308gsm. German Etching has a substantial, lightly textured surface that works exceptionally well for paintings and richly coloured works. Photo Rag has a smoother cotton surface suited to graphic, modernist and highly detailed imagery.
Paper is selected according to the character of the artwork rather than using one generic stock for everything.
What does “giclée” actually mean?
Giclée is a professional fine-art printing process using archival pigment inks and high-resolution inkjet technology. Unlike inexpensive poster printing, it is designed to reproduce subtle colour gradations, fine detail and tonal depth.
It is a reproduction method widely used by artists, photographers, galleries and professional fine-art printers.
So is this really “museum quality”?
We would rather tell you what we use and let you decide. Genuine Hahnemühle fine-art paper, professional giclée printing, archival pigment inks and carefully prepared high-resolution artwork are measurable things.
“Museum quality” by itself is not.
Will large prints still look sharp?
Large-format reproduction depends heavily on the quality of the underlying artwork file. We source the highest-resolution material available and prepare each image for print rather than simply enlarging a small internet image.
That is especially important with historic paintings, posters and archival works where source quality varies considerably.
Are these just posters?
No. A poster can be printed cheaply on lightweight commercial paper. Our fine-art editions are intended as permanent pieces of wall art, produced on heavyweight fine-art substrates with professional printing methods.
For graphic or poster artwork, the image may be a historic poster; the object you receive is still a fine-art reproduction.
What about your framed prints?
Our framed pieces use solid-wood frames and are produced as finished pieces of wall art rather than inexpensive poster frames. Depending on the configuration, we also offer matting and premium glazing options.
The goal is the same as with the print itself: use materials appropriate for a piece you intend to keep.
Will the colours look exactly like my screen?
Screens emit light; paper reflects it, so no physical print can be identical to every monitor or phone display. We prepare our artwork specifically for print and aim for accurate colour, contrast and tonal reproduction.
The texture and surface of fine-art paper also give the finished piece a physical depth that cannot be shown completely on a screen.
Collector Proof
“The print is so exquisite that I literally gasped upon opening it!”
— Verified BuyerQuality Verified
A Top Quality Store on Google
Google has awarded 9 Art Prints its Top Quality Store distinction for delivering a strong shopping experience across shipping, returns, browsing, and checkout.
Shipping experience
Returns experience
Browsing experience
Checkout experience
Store quality
Still have questions? Read our FAQ