A gold, jewelled and nephrite Spray of Lilies-of-the-Valley

BY FABERG, ST. PETERSBURG, CIRCA 1890

Details

A gold, jewelled and nephrite Spray of Lilies-of-the-Valley
by Faberg, St. Petersburg, circa 1890
In a baluster shaped rock-crystal vase, with a carved nephrite leaf, from which emanate two gold stems suspending fourteen pearls of varied size imitating buds, six with silver petals set with rose-cut diamonds, apparently unmarked, in a Wartski case
5in. (12.8cm.) high

Provenance

Formerly in the Collection of Queen Helen of Rumania.

Literature

A. Kenneth Snowman, Carl Faberg, Goldsmith to the Imperial Court of Russia (London, 1979), p.131, illustrated.

Lot Essay

The popularity of lilies-of-the-valley is in their significance; they blossom with the departure of the winter and herald the arrival of spring. They are also the bridal flower. Faberg was commissioned to produce various such sprays as well as baskets of these delicate flowers. Franz Birbaum, on of the most prominent employees of Carl Faberg, recalls in his memoirs that at the time the cost of manufacturing these flowers was considerable and depending on the complexity of the flowers was sometimes as much as several thousand rubles. For similar sprays of lilies-of-the-valley see Christie's Dsseldorf, 21 March 1972, lot 466, and Christie's London, The Robert Strauss Collection of Works of Art by Carl Faberg, 9 March 1976, lots 50 and 51. In the collection of Her Majesty the Queen is a similar double spray and a large basket of lilies-of-the-valley, which was presented to Empress Alexandra Feodorovna in 1896, is now in the New Orleans Museum of Art.