BY FABERGÉ, ST PETERSBURG, CIRCA 1890, SCRATCHED INVENTORY NUMBER 49208

During his travels in Western Europe, Fabergé became interested in Renaissance objets de vitrine, and through the work of such craftsmen as Ratzendorfer and Vasters, he developed an awareness of the influences of historicism on nineteenth-century decorative arts (G. von Habsburg, Fabergé, Geneva, 1988, p. 66-72). In the workshop of Michael Perchin, Fabergé produced a small number of objects in the Renaissance style, to which the present kovsh is related. Further notable examples include the Renaissance Egg (1894), the Rock Crystal Egg (1896), and an enamelled gold and carved smoky quartz Nautilus shell cup (Sotheby’s, New York, 15-16 April 2008, lot 411).

Based on a photograph taken in 1915 and depicting the Fabergé collection of Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna of Mecklenburg (1860-1920), the present kovsh may have been in the above collection.