Empress Maria Fedorovna: A Fabergé silver-gilt and guilloché enamel cigarette case, workmaster August Hollming, St Petersburg, 1899-1903
Auction Closed
November 25, 06:21 PM GMT
Estimate
5,000 - 7,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
the surface enamelled in translucent pearlescent white over sunburst and fan engine-turning, cabochon thumbpiece, gilt interior, struck to interior with Fabergé in Cyrillic, workmaster’s initials, 88 standard
height 8 cm; 3 1/8 in.
Purchased from the St Petersburg branch of Fabergé by Empress Maria Feodorovna in 1900 for 80 roubles;
sold, Replica Shoes 's London, 12 June 2008, lot 619;
sold, Replica Shoes 's London, 26 November 2019, lot 358
Following her marriage to Emperor Alexander III in 1866, Empress Maria Feodorovna maintained strong connections with her family and made regular trips to Denmark, often to family palaces. In advance of her visits to Copenhagen, Maria Feodorovna ordered a large number of gifts from Fabergé.
The Empress began to distribute these gifts as soon as she embarked, bestowing them on the stationmaster, porters, gendarmes, police commissioner, the house steward, game-keeper and other helpful citizens along her journeys (exhibition catalogue, Fabergé: The Tsar’s Court Jeweller and his Association with the Danish Royal Family, Copenhagen, 2016, p. 51).
In the Imperial Cabinet record of Empress Maria Feodorovna's travels to Denmark from August 1900 to February 1901, the present cigarette case is recorded under 1223 as being presented to the Senior Telegraph Operator of the Warsaw train station.
We are grateful to Svetlana Chestnykh for her assistance in researching the present cigarette case.
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