The leather hunting bag belonged to Ivan Bunin, in 1920 he took it with him from Russia to France. Researchers could not determine, whether he used it according to its intended purpose while being abroad. This item is also remarkable for its sentimental value: for many years it was a symbol of Bunin’s attachment to his Motherland.

For the writer, his passion for hunting was very important: since childhood, he often went hunting with his father. This fascination with hunting taught the future writer to be sensitive to details and to better understand nature. Vera Bunina wrote about his father Alexey Nikolaevich:

Bunin admired his father and cherished these memories of his childhood. Later, many Bunin’s books included descriptions of hunting.

In the story ‘Antonovka Apples’, he described the emotions from this activity:

After Ivan Bunin’s death, the hunting bag ended up in the hands of a family friend and writer — Natalia Kodrianskaya. Together with several other Bunin’s items, she gave it to Konstantin Paustovsky, who greatly appreciated Bunin’s talent, and the bag was returned to Russia. For many years it was hanged over Paustovsky’s desk, and after his death, the writer’s stepdaughter Galina Arbuzova donated it to the Ivan Nikitin House-Museum.

Galina Arbuzova is known as a literary critic, screenwriter, curator of the Konstantin Paustovsky Memorial House-Museum in Tarusa. She donated other Bunin’s memorabilia to the Voronezh Regional Literary Museum of I.S. Nikitin.