A JEWELLED SILVER MODEL OF A MOTORCAR DESIGNED AS A DESK ORNAMENT

MARKED FABERGÉ AND WITH THE WORKMASTER'S MARK OF HENRIK WIGSTRÖM, ST. PETERSBURG, 1896-1908, WITH SCRATCHED INVENTORY NUMBER 14381

Details

A JEWELLED SILVER MODEL OF A MOTORCAR DESIGNED AS A DESK ORNAMENT
marked Fabergé and with the workmaster's mark of Henrik Wigström, St. Petersburg, 1896-1908, with scratched inventory number 14381
Realistically and technically modelled with rock-crystal headlights, cabochon rubies, emerald position lights and cut-glass windows, mounted as a desk ornament with the steering wheel acting as an electrical bell-push, the radiator as an inkwell, the driver's seat as a stamp box, the passenger's compartment designed to hold pens and the trunk shaped as a drawer, fully marked, in an original fitted case with a glass front window, the cover stamped 'Fabergé, Petrograd, Moscow, London'
10 1/8in. (26cm.) long

Provenance

Christie's Geneva, 17 November 1983, lot 409, bought by A La Vieille Russie as agent

Literature

von Solodkoff, A. Masterpieces from the House of Fabergé, New York, 1984, p. 164, ill.
Hill, G. Fabergé and the Russian Master Goldsmiths, New York, 1989, p. 293, ill. pl. no. 267
Forbes, C. & Tromeur-Brenner, R. Fabergé, The Forbes Collection, New York, 1999, p. 249, ill. p. 248

Exhibited

Detroit, The Detroit Institute of Arts, Fabergé, The Forbes Magazine Collection, 1984, no. 1
London, Sotheby's, Fabergé Silver from The Forbes Magazine Collection, 1991, no. 39, p. 42, ill.
Vienna, Naturistorisches Museum, Treasures from the Czars, 1991, p. 79, ill.

Lot Essay

By repute, the present model of a motorcar was the mascot of the Imperial Automobile Club and was used on a writing desk at the club's headquarters.
Based on stylistical and technical details this model can be dated around 1904-1905. At that time cars by Brasier, Decauville and Adler were similarly styled. The Fabergé motorcar is however not specifically modelled on any make of cars. Fabergé apparently combined the styling of existing cars into one of his own inspiration.
This is one of the very few known technical models in the Fabergé tours de force oeuvre, the others being the surprise locomotive in the 1900 Imperial Trans-Siberian Easter egg (now in the Kremlin Armoury Museum in Moscow) and the silver Presentation Paddle Steamer, lot 139 in this catalogue.

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