An original design for this magnificent and rare necklace by Fabergé is featured in the album of jewellery drawings from the collection of the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg. The album features more than 1,200 jewellery designs on 60 pages, and is currently undergoing extensive restoration.

This elegant necklace is convertible to a brooch. It was made by August Holmström (1829-1903), Fabergé’s chief jeweller for forty-six years. Homström oversaw the production of the major jewellery pieces. He had joined the House of Fabergé during the time of Gustav Fabergé, Carl Fabergé’s father, and trained future workmasters such as Erik Kollin, Viktor Aarne, and Knut Oscar Pihl, who became his son-in-law.

Henry Bainbridge, the manager of Fabergé’s London branch and author of the first monograph on Carl Fabergé, wrote:

‘I cannot place Holmström except on the very top rung of the Fabergé ladder. No jeweller in Europe could beat him, but he was much more than a setter of precious stones. [...] Not only did he succeed in turning out objects of jewellery for personal adornment and jewelled objects in the way of Imperial Easter Eggs and their 'surprises', and of the finest quality, but he was equally successful in goldsmithery, pure and simple.’ (H.C. Bainbridge, Peter Carl Fabergé, London, 1949, p. 130).

Fabergé jewellery of this importance and with its original fitted case is very rare on the market. For a comparable necklace by August Holmström, see U. Tillander-Godenhielm, Fabergé His Masters and Artisans, Helsinki, 2018, p. 43.