A JEWELLED TWO-COLOUR GOLD AND ENAMEL COMMEMORATIVE BADGE

MAKER'S MARK 'AJ', ST PETERSBURG, 1899-1904

Details

A JEWELLED TWO-COLOUR GOLD AND ENAMEL COMMEMORATIVE BADGE
MAKER'S MARK 'AJ', ST PETERSBURG, 1899-1904
Oval, centring a diamond-set rose gold lyre on blue guilloché enamel ground, within a green gold laurel wreath surmounted with a diamond-set star and banded with a white enamel ribbon inscribed in Russian 'Imperial ballet troop Ricc. Eug. Drigo', the reverse also inscribed 'Hommage au talent de notre éstimé et bien aimé collègue et ami Riccardo Diego 18-XII-1905', marked on reverse and pin
2 in. (5 cm.) high

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Anna Belousova

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Lot Essay

This badge was most probably commissioned privately by the Imperial Russian Ballet (the Mariinsky Ballet) for Riccardo Eugenio Drigo (1846-1930), who was an Italian composer, conductor and pianist. Drigo is best known for his illustrious career in Russia. From 1879 he worked as a conductor of the St Petersburg Imperial Italian Opera and from 1886 he served as a principal conductor for Italian opera at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre. Thanks to his close relationship with Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893), Drigo conducted the premiers of such important ballets as The Sleeping Beauty (1890) and later The Nutcracker (1892). Drigo is also well known for his original scores for such ballets as Le Talisman (1889) and La Flûte Magique (1893).

We are grateful to Sergei Patrikeev for helping research the present lot.

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