Dmitriev Nikolai Grigorievich (1916–1991) is a prominent master of miniature lacquer painting, an author of the book “Mstyora manmade”. He was a teacher of Mstyora art vocational school for more than 30 years.

The name of his small box is an allusion to the lyrical poem with the same title written by Alexander Tvardovskiy in the 1950s–1960s. Narration of the poem takes place during the poet’s journey by trans-Siberian main railway line. The author comments on both landscapes outside the window and events which take place in the country, processes of socialist construction.

In the small box “Beyond the far distance” Nikolai Dmitriev deals with the alike theme of harmonious existence of features of new industrial achievements and traditions of previous generations during the same time span. There are several grounds in the painting.

In the foreground young people are carrying pails of water on the yokes. They have poured water with the help of the hydrant. This action is taking place in the ground of a village. There are trim houses enriched with carvings and decorated with multicolored paints in the village.

A car is passing by the houses. Cars were much rarer in Soviet times than nowadays. The village is located in the ground of a highway. In the background of the painting there is a railway, a plant and developed high-rise buildings.

The small box shows a specific way of field defining in Mstyora miniature lacquer painting — contingence of grounds. The fine art expert, honorary member of Russian Academy of Arts Desyatnikov Vladimir Alexandrovich (born in 1931) wrote that such way showed flat forms in depiction and provided absence of illusive depth in the small box painting.   

All the depicted things located in the first (foreground), the second, the third, the fourth (background) have a carpet composition. All that is perceived as an expressional ornamental silhouette. These particular specific characteristics of Mstyora miniature lacquer painting are often attributed to works of Vladimir painting school representatives.