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拍品專文
The Imperial Russian Court, especially under the reign of Nicholas II was most renowned amongst European Courts, for its lavish and expensive gifts to foreign dignitaries coming to Russia.
The responsibility of purchasing and allocating these gifts, under the strict supervision of the Tsar, was given to the Imperial Cabinet which kept a number of well detailed ledgers. These ledgers contain the description of each item, its cost, the name of the Court supplier and the name of the recipient. Thanks to the laborious research of Valentin Skurlov, our consultant in St. Petersburg, we are now, able to trace the background of one of these Fabergé Imperial presentation snuff-boxes which were the most coveted items amongst imperial gifts as well as the original bill from the Fabergé firm mentioning the present box sent to the Imperial Cabinet and signed Fabergé.
In fact, having been awarded the title of Court jeweller in 1884, Fabergé became one of the main suppliers of the Imperial Cabinet.
Apart from discovering the original bill mentioning the present box with its inventory number, we can almost assert, based on the date on it, 17 January 1903, that the box is probably one of the last ones executed by the most renowned Fabergé workmaster Michael Perchin (1860-died August 28, 1903) at a cost of 1,200 rubles.
Fabergé Imperial presentation snuff-boxes were purchased by the Imperial Cabinet as unfinished, that is, the cartouche on the cover was unmounted and therefore was able to contain either the cypher or the miniature portrait of the Emperor as he wished. At the same time, the recipients had the right to return them to the Imperial Cabinet against their value, which happened quite often with Russian officials.
The present snuff-box is applied in its center with a painted oval miniature of Tsar Nicholas II executed by the court miniaturist Zuiev, wearing the uniform of Her Majesty's Lancer Guards regiment. The above miniature numbered 312 is part of four miniatures delivered by the artist to the Imperial Cabinet on August 18th 1909 and later included in the ledgers under the numbers 310, 311, 312 and 313.
It is interesting to note that only forty-four presentation snuff-boxes set with a miniature of Nicholas II, produced by Fabergé or others, were presented by the Tsar himself to Russian foreign dignitaries. Of these forty-four, only half were executed by the Fabergé firm, far less than the number of Imperial eggs which totalled fifty.
Dom Alfredo Alcino de Castro received the above snuff-box on February 23rd 1911 as Portuguese ambassador in St. Petersburg.
Dom Alfredo knew Russia and the St. Petersburg society very well due to his long stay in the Russian capital at the turn of the century as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Imperial Court on behalf of Portugal. He was also accustomed to such Fabergé gifts, for another snuff-box was presented to him by members of the St. Petersburg aristocracy. See Sotheby's Geneva, 15 November 1990, lot 366.
The responsibility of purchasing and allocating these gifts, under the strict supervision of the Tsar, was given to the Imperial Cabinet which kept a number of well detailed ledgers. These ledgers contain the description of each item, its cost, the name of the Court supplier and the name of the recipient. Thanks to the laborious research of Valentin Skurlov, our consultant in St. Petersburg, we are now, able to trace the background of one of these Fabergé Imperial presentation snuff-boxes which were the most coveted items amongst imperial gifts as well as the original bill from the Fabergé firm mentioning the present box sent to the Imperial Cabinet and signed Fabergé.
In fact, having been awarded the title of Court jeweller in 1884, Fabergé became one of the main suppliers of the Imperial Cabinet.
Apart from discovering the original bill mentioning the present box with its inventory number, we can almost assert, based on the date on it, 17 January 1903, that the box is probably one of the last ones executed by the most renowned Fabergé workmaster Michael Perchin (1860-died August 28, 1903) at a cost of 1,200 rubles.
Fabergé Imperial presentation snuff-boxes were purchased by the Imperial Cabinet as unfinished, that is, the cartouche on the cover was unmounted and therefore was able to contain either the cypher or the miniature portrait of the Emperor as he wished. At the same time, the recipients had the right to return them to the Imperial Cabinet against their value, which happened quite often with Russian officials.
The present snuff-box is applied in its center with a painted oval miniature of Tsar Nicholas II executed by the court miniaturist Zuiev, wearing the uniform of Her Majesty's Lancer Guards regiment. The above miniature numbered 312 is part of four miniatures delivered by the artist to the Imperial Cabinet on August 18th 1909 and later included in the ledgers under the numbers 310, 311, 312 and 313.
It is interesting to note that only forty-four presentation snuff-boxes set with a miniature of Nicholas II, produced by Fabergé or others, were presented by the Tsar himself to Russian foreign dignitaries. Of these forty-four, only half were executed by the Fabergé firm, far less than the number of Imperial eggs which totalled fifty.
Dom Alfredo Alcino de Castro received the above snuff-box on February 23rd 1911 as Portuguese ambassador in St. Petersburg.
Dom Alfredo knew Russia and the St. Petersburg society very well due to his long stay in the Russian capital at the turn of the century as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Imperial Court on behalf of Portugal. He was also accustomed to such Fabergé gifts, for another snuff-box was presented to him by members of the St. Petersburg aristocracy. See Sotheby's Geneva, 15 November 1990, lot 366.