Lot 470

470

A LARGE AND RARE JEWELED AND GOLD-MOUNTED BLOODSTONE SNUFF BOX SHAPED AS A HEAD OF A HIPPO

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A LARGE AND RARE JEWELED AND GOLD-MOUNTED BLOODSTONE SNUFF BOX SHAPED AS A HEAD OF A HIPPO

BY FABERGÉ, WORKMASTER MICHAEL PERCHIN, ST. PETERSBURG, CIRCA 1890

Details

A LARGE AND RARE JEWELED AND GOLD-MOUNTED BLOODSTONE SNUFF BOX SHAPED AS A HEAD OF A HIPPO
BY FABERGÉ, WORKMASTER MICHAEL PERCHIN, ST. PETERSBURG, CIRCA 1890
Realistically carved as the head of a hippo, the gold mounts and hinged cover chased with scrolls and wavy border, with diamond and ruby-set thumbpiece, marked on flange with 'Fabergé' in Cyrillic and workmaster's initials, also with French import marks
3 ¾ in. (9.5 cm.) long

Provenance

Countess Vera Sergeevna Zubova (1845-1925).
Anonymous sale; Christie's, Geneva, 1 May 1974, lot 218.
With A La Vieille Russie, New York.
Acquired by Irene Roosevelt Aitken from the above, 11 February 2019.

Literature

Exhibition catalogue, Fabergé: Exhibition for the Benefit of the Scholarship Fund of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, New York, 1983, pp. 122-123, no. 452 (illustrated).
G. von Habsburg, Fabergé, Munich, 1986, p. 178, no. 266 (illustrated).
G. von Habsburg, M. Lopato, Fabergé: Imperial Jeweler, London, 1993, p. 355, no. 247 (illustrated).
Exhibition catalogue, Carl Fabergé: Goldsmith to the Tsar, Stockholm, 1997, p. 132, no. 82 (illustrated).

Exhibited

New York, A La Vieille Russie, Fabergé: Exhibition for the Benefit of the Scholarship Fund of the Cooper- Hewitt Museum, the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Design, 22 April - 21 May 1983, no. 452.
Munich, Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Fabergé, 5 December 1986 - 22 February 1987, no. 266.
St Petersburg, Hermitage State Museum; Paris, Musée des Arts Décoratifs; London, Victoria and Albert Museum, Fabergé: Imperial Jeweller, June 1993 - April 1994, no. 247.
Stockholm, Nationalmuseum, Carl Fabergé: Goldsmith to the Tsar, 6 - 19 October 1997, no. 82.

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

This rare bloodstone snuff box carved in the shape of a hippo's head was once in the collection of Countess Vera Zubova, née Plautina (1845-1925), a Russian noblewoman and philanthropist. In 1869, she married Count Platon Zubov (1835-1890), one of the wealthiest landowners in the Russian Empire.

Countess Zubova was descended from the Ogarev family through her mother, Anna Platonovna Ogareva, while her husband belonged to the distinguished Zubov and Suvorov families. Platon Zubov owned a substantial fortune and was actively engaged in charitable activities. He served as a trustee of the House of the Poor under the Imperial Philanthropic Society.

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