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Lot Essay
This piece, along with other clay brick match holders in this sale, exemplifies Fabergé’s inventiveness and ability to transform even the most mundane objects into works of art. The bricks feature a rough exterior surface that serves as a match striker, along with two internal storage compartments. Fabergé elevated these functional items by adorning them with silver handles and decorations featuring snakes (lot 25), satyrs, putti (lot 32), cabochon gems (lot 21), and other motifs.
An identical match holder is illustrated in the advertising catalogue of Fabergé’s Moscow shop, published in 1899 (no. 58). A photograph of Nicholas II at his desk in Peterhof, taken in 1895, shows a match holder with a faint figure atop a brick, possibly the same model as the present lot.
A comparable match holder with the mark of Julius Rappoport was sold at Sotheby's, London, 27 November 2007, lot 556.
An identical match holder is illustrated in the advertising catalogue of Fabergé’s Moscow shop, published in 1899 (no. 58). A photograph of Nicholas II at his desk in Peterhof, taken in 1895, shows a match holder with a faint figure atop a brick, possibly the same model as the present lot.
A comparable match holder with the mark of Julius Rappoport was sold at Sotheby's, London, 27 November 2007, lot 556.