Christie's New York will host the annual Russian Art sale in New York, featuring exceptional and sought-after works that encompass the canon of Russian Art.

Christie's, which leads the Russian Art category will offer a rare oil by Alexei Korzukhin, a series of elaborate costume designs by Alexandre Benois, a strong group of works by the Soviet Non-Conformists and a powerful painting by Boris Grigoriev, Les Enfants, pictured above.

The diverse selection of Fabergé and Russian Works of Art includes more than 250 lots of silver, enamels, vertú, porcelain, bronzes, militaria; in addition to 44 lots of Fabergé.

Highlights include more than 40 lots of Fabergé and enamels from the Estate of Catherine Halff Edson, a private collection of eight porcelain plates from the Yusupov Manufactory purchased in Leningrad in 1932 and a bronze figure of Peter I by Mark Antokolskii.

Grigoriev's haunting Les Enfants painting

The April auction is expected to realize upwards of $5m in two sessions. Izabela Grocholski, Christie's Vice President and Head of Russian Art notes:

"Christie's Russian Art sale is robust with a diverse and broad selection of paintings and works of art.

"From important 19th Century and Impressionist paintings to key works by the Non-Conformists of the 1960s, important collections of Fabergé, porcelain, enamels, breathtaking bronze sculptures, the sale will pique the interest of buyers across the globe and collecting categories."

The sale's top lot, Boris Grigoriev's Les Enfants, hails from the Rybinsk-native's seminal period in New York and was exhibited to great acclaim in the early 1920s.

The insightful double portrait of 12-year-old twins Katherine and Mary Cane — daughters of the art-centric couple Florence and Melville Cane, who were part of New York City's thriving artistic community of the period, including Alfred Stieglitz and Marsden Hartley — shows Grigoriev's confluence of inspiration from icon painting, cubism and the work of Cézanne.

Grigoriev captured the innocence and long-limbed awkwardness of the girls on the cusp of adolescence. The portrait is both touching and haunting reflecting on the twins' symbiotic relationship with their hands poignantly touching, sharing secrets that perhaps only they know.

The work, estimated at $600,000-800,000 will be sold on April 13.