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PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT PRIVATE COLLECTION
An Important Jeweled Gold and Enamel Covered Box
MARKED FABERGÉ, WORKMASTERS MICHAEL PERCHIN AND HENRIK WIGSTRÖM, ST. PETERSBURG, 1896-1908, SCRATCHED INVENTORY NUMBER 1738
Details
An Important Jeweled Gold and Enamel Covered Box
Marked Fabergé, workmasters Michael Perchin and Henrik Wigström, St. Petersburg, 1896-1908, scratched inventory number 1738
Circular, the body in opalescent oyster enamel over a sunburst guilloché ground, the underside sepia painted to simulate moss agate, the sides with lake scenes and trees, and the cover with a view of the Narva Triumphal Gate, all within chased laurel borders set with rubies, with velvet lined red leather Wartski box, fully marked
1 7/8 in. (4.3 cm.) diam.
Marked Fabergé, workmasters Michael Perchin and Henrik Wigström, St. Petersburg, 1896-1908, scratched inventory number 1738
Circular, the body in opalescent oyster enamel over a sunburst guilloché ground, the underside sepia painted to simulate moss agate, the sides with lake scenes and trees, and the cover with a view of the Narva Triumphal Gate, all within chased laurel borders set with rubies, with velvet lined red leather Wartski box, fully marked
1 7/8 in. (4.3 cm.) diam.
Provenance
Purchased from Wartski, London, invoice dated 9 February 1973.
Literature
A. Kenneth Snowman, Carl Fabergé Goldsmith to the Imperial Court of Russia, New York, 1983, pp.26-27, illustrated.
Further details
Fabergé designed an array of boxes with sepia painted enamel views of monuments and buildings in Russia, including a box with a view of the Fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul in St. Petersburg in the Forbes Magazine Collection (Geza von Hapsburg and Marina Lopato, Fabergé Imperial Jeweler, New York, 1994, p. 363, fig. 261) and special commissions such as the Iussupov music box in the Hillwood Museum (Anne Odom, Russian Enamels, London, 1996, pp.184-185, fig. 118). For additional examples, see Ulla Tillander-Godenhielm, et al, Golden Years of Fabergé, Drawings and Objects from the Wigström Workshops, Graulhet, 2000, pp. 146-149, illustrated. Complementing the boxes with Russian views are frames and boxes with views of buildings and locations in England, five of which are in the British Royal Collection, and boxes with views of Thai royal palaces in the Thai Royal Collection.
Snowman identifies the view on the cover of the present box as Wellington Arch in London (Snowman, op cit, p. 26), but closer inspection reveals it to be Narva Triumphal Gate in St. Petersburg. Commemorating the Russian victory over Napoleon, Narva Triumphal Gate was erected on Narva Square in 1814 and redesigned and rebuilt by Vasilii Stasov between 1827 and 1834. Standing atop the arch is Nike, the Goddess of Victory, in a triumphal car drawn by six horses, sculpted by Piotr Karlovich Klodt (1805-1867).
Snowman identifies the view on the cover of the present box as Wellington Arch in London (Snowman, op cit, p. 26), but closer inspection reveals it to be Narva Triumphal Gate in St. Petersburg. Commemorating the Russian victory over Napoleon, Narva Triumphal Gate was erected on Narva Square in 1814 and redesigned and rebuilt by Vasilii Stasov between 1827 and 1834. Standing atop the arch is Nike, the Goddess of Victory, in a triumphal car drawn by six horses, sculpted by Piotr Karlovich Klodt (1805-1867).