King 

Konstantin Korobov painted this intriguing scene of rodents, sometime after his birth in 1985. Here, rats, symbols often associated with disease and decay, are ironically adorned with emblems of wealth and royalty: a crown, pearls, and a coin. These rats are reminiscent of the medieval Dance of Death, where skeletons or decaying bodies mock the living, reminding us of the fleeting nature of earthly power. These objects of wealth are transferred to the rats, but what is the underlying meaning? We may recall the tale of the Pied Piper, who rid Hamelin of rats, a legend that speaks to our collective anxieties about unchecked proliferation and the darker sides of human nature. The accumulation of wealth, symbolized here, becomes absurd when juxtaposed with the creatures most often vilified. Perhaps, in the depths of our collective memory, these rats serve as a dark jest, a reminder that all earthly glories are, ultimately, transient, and subject to the inevitable decay that awaits us all.