MELBA, Nellie (1861-1931) – A JEWELED FOUR-COLOR GOLD AND GUILLOCHÉ ENAMEL PARASOL HANDLE BY FABERGÉ, WITH THE WORKMASTER’S MARK OF MICHAEL PERCHIN, ST. PETERSBURG, CIRCA 1890, SCRATCHED INVENTORY NUMBER 45126

Details

MELBA, Nellie (1861-1931) – A JEWELED FOUR-COLOR GOLD AND GUILLOCHÉ ENAMEL PARASOL HANDLE BY FABERGÉ, WITH THE WORKMASTER’S MARK OF MICHAEL PERCHIN, ST. PETERSBURG, CIRCA 1890, SCRATCHED INVENTORY NUMBER 45126
The tapering cylindrical handle enameled overall in translucent salmon pink over a wavy guilloché ground, with rose-cut diamond-set alternating borders, decorated with four-color gold rose swags, suspended from rose-cut diamonds, the top centering a diamond finial within rose garlands, with a later diamond-set lower border, marked on lower border, 2 1/8 in. (5.4 cm.) high

Provenance

Dame Nellie Melba, presented to her by Czarina Maria Feodorovna (1847-1928) in 1891 (according to the minutes of the Metropolitan Opera Guild's Memorabilia Committee for 1965) – Thomas Beecham (1879-1961; conductor) – acquired for the Metropolitan Opera Guild by Mrs. John E. Long, Mrs. Ryan, Mrs. Hoover, and Mrs. Goelet, supplemented by the Bispham Fund.

Lot Essay

One of the most celebrated singers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Nellie Melba made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Lucia di Lammermoor in December 1893, though it was not until her performance of Roméo et Juliette the next year that her North American reputation was fully established. According to minutes of the Metropolitan Opera Guild Dame Nellie Melba carried this parasol handle in the 1904 production of La Traviata.

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