Fabergé Friday

Fabergé created many, many miniature animals. Several of them were part of a big animal-commission called the Sandringham Commission, ordered by King Edward VII in 1907. I've already shown you a few critters from that collection, and here comes another one - a little rat!

The rat is made of chalcedony and has silver ears and a silver tail, both set with rose diamonds. The dimensions of the little animal are 0.9'' x 1.8'' x 0.8'' (2.2 x 4.6 x 2 cm), and it now lives in the Royal Collection.

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Fabergé Friday

It's Easter time, so what better to show you than a Fabergé (Easter) bunny!

The miniature rabbit is carved from a piece of chalcedony, and has rose-cut diamonds for eyes. It's dimensions are 0.9'' x 1.5' x 0.9'' (2.2 x 3.8 x 2.2 cm), and it was commissioned by King Edward VII in 1907. Now it belongs in the Royal Collection. Happy Easter everyone!!!

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Fabergé Friday

Today's Fabergé object is something that will help you see more clearly - a magnifying glass! It was made by workmaster Mikhail Perkhin, sometime between 1896 and 1903!

The square lens of the magnifying glass is held in a gold frame, covered in blue guilloché enamel decorated with gold neo-classical ornaments. The handle is carved out of chalcedony and set with a blue enamel band. A gold laurel wreath, topped by the Russian imperial crown, holding a gold rouble coin from the reign of Tsarina Elizabeth, dated 1750, connects the handle with the framed lens. The magnifying glass can now be found in the Royal Collection. 

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Fabergé Friday

No kind of animal was forgotten when it came to Fabergé's miniatures. So here comes a snail, made around 1910!

The 1.8'' x 3.9'' x 1.5'' (4.5 x 10 x 3.7 cm) size snail is made out of chalcedony, with a jasper shell, to resemble a real snail. It is part of a group of miniature animals that formed part of Princess Victoria's collection. It can now be found in the Royal Collection.

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Fabergé Friday

Of all the little egg pendants Fabergé created, some were more important than others. Like the two shown below for example, made between the years 1908 and 1917!

The difference between these and the "normal" egg pendants are that these are so called "Imperial Presentation Egg Pendants", decorated with the cipher of Empress Maria Feodorovna in gold. These eggs were given personally by the Empress to female members of the Royal family and ladies-in-waiting at Easter time. Very few of these eggs have survived, and the two in this post comes from the same family, and are said to have belonged to one of the Empress' ladies-in-waiting.

The smallest of the two eggs - 0.7'' (1.9 cm) high - is carved from a piece of golden chalcedony. 

The slightly bigger one - 0.9'' (2.2 cm) high - is made of rhodonite. Siberian Rhodonite (Orletz) was one of Carl Fabergé's favorite stones.

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Fabergé Friday

It's December 13th, which means we celebrate Saint Lucia in Sweden today. It's also Friday 13th. But - most of all - it's Fabergé Friday! So here comes a cute dormouse, made around the year 1910!

This little figurine in the form of a dormouse is carved our of chalcedony. It has sapphire eyes and platinum whiskers, and is nibbling on a few straws made of gold. The size of the mouse is 2.4'' x 2'' x 2.3'' (6.2 x 5.2 x 5.8 cm), and no other dormouse is known to have been made by Fabergé. It was bought at Fabergé's London branch by Queen Alexandra, consort of King Edward VII, on November 5th, 1912, and is now part of The Royal Collection.

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