Fabergé Friday

And this Friday's Fabergé object is - a dish! Made sometime between the years 1896 and 1908.

The circular dish is made of nephrite and has an everted trim. The center column is made of gold and red enamel over a guilloché ground, decorated with gold leaves that spiral up the stem. The base of the column has chased gold leaves and is set with rose-cut diamonds. The top handle is in the form of a looped enamel snake, set with a cabochon ruby on it's head, and a gold tongue. The dimensions of the whole object are 2.4'' x 3.7 '' (6.2 x 9.5 cm), and it is part of the Royal Collection.

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Fabergé Friday

The flowers called Bleeding Hearts in English we in Sweden call Löjtnantshärtan, which means Lieutenant Hearts. They're really pretty, and here is a sprig made by Fabergé!

The gold-stalked double spray sits in a vase of rock crystal. The flowers are carved in rhodonite and quartzite, with three sets of three carved nephrite leaves. To make the flowers as true to life as possible they are set en tremblant, which means they can move gently, as blown by the wind. The dimensions of the whole object are 7.5'' x 6'' x 2.4'' (19 x 15.3 x 6.2 cm), and it was acquired by Queen Mary in 1934. Now it is part of the Royal Collection.

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Fabergé Friday

So, here we have one more of those really usable Fabergé objects you didn't know you needed - a pen rest!

The pen rest is made of nephrite, decorated with a mistletoe design of pearl and rose-cut diamond berries on a gold stem with gold leaves. The size of the piece is 0.7'' x 1.7'' x 0.9'' (1.9 x 4.3 x 2.3 cm), and it was acquired by King George V, who always kept it on his desk. It now belongs to the Royal Collection.

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Fabergé Friday

Christmas is just around the corner, and one Christmas decoration I wouldn't mind putting on my mantlepiece - if I had a mantlepiece - is this Fabergé holly sprig! It was made by workmaster Henrik Wigström, around 1908!

The twig sits in a glass made of rock crystal, which emulates both the glass and the water in it. It has a stem made of gold, leaves of nephrite, and red purpurine berries. The dimensions of the piece is 5.6'' x 3.1'' x 3.1'' (14.1 x 8 x 8 cm), and it was purchased by Mrs George Keppel on a visit to Fabergé's shop in London with Edward VII in 1908. She was a long-time mistress of the king. Now it is part of the Royal Collection.

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Fabergé Friday

It's Friday! And here comes another Fabergé object! How unusual... This week I have another pretty bell push for you to wonder over. This one was made by workmaster Mikhail Perkhin, sometime between 1896 and 1903!

The bell push is made of nephrite, and decorated with swags of three-color gold. It stands on gold feet, over which runs a border of red and white enamel. The top is decorated with radiating enamel beams in the same two colors. The actual push button is a moonstone. The dimensions of the bell push is 1.5'' x 2.3'' x 2.1'' (3.9 x 5.8 x 5.3 cm), and it now has it's place in the Royal Collection.

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Fabergé Friday

Last week I showed you one of Fabergé's flower creations, so today I thought we'd continue with some berries. Raspberries to be exact! This one was created around the year 1900!

You could almost believe this was a real twig, just cut from a bush and placed in a glass of water. But no. The ripening raspberries are made of rhodonite, surrounded by nephrite leaves attached to a gold stem. The "water filled" glass is cut from a piece of rock crystal. The dimensions of the creation is 6.3'' x 3.1'' x 2.6'' (15.9 x 7.8 x 6.7 cm). Since 1953 it can be found in the Royal Collection. 

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Fabergé Friday

During the sunny summer a parasol might come in handy. If the parasol has a handle by Fabergé, the sunny day might seem even sunnier. Take a look at this beauty, made by workmaster Henrik Wigström, sometime between 1908 and 1917!

The parasol handle is covered in translucent pink enamel over a wavy guilloché ground. The green ball on top is carved out of nephrite and mounted with gold laurel swags set with diamonds. A gold chased band of laurel also encircles the bottom. The hight of the handle is 2 3/4'' (7 centimeters), and if you feel like getting a new handle for your parasol, this one can be yours for 39,500 USD over at John Atzbach Antiques!

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Fabergé Friday

We have now reached number four in the line of Kelch-eggs: the "Apple Blossom Egg" or "Jade Chest Egg", from 1901!

The thin, polished surface of this egg is made from one solid piece of carved nephrite. It stands on four "branches" made of red and green gold. These branches then grow up over the egg as interlacing twigs with nots, veins, patches of moss, gold leaves and flowers with white-pink enamel petals and silver-mounted, pink foiled rose-cut diamonds. 

The design of the egg reflects the contemporary fashion of Art Nouveau and the Japanese style. This is one of the biggest eggs ever created by Fabergé, and it was designed as a jewelry case. The surprise inside is lost though.

The "Apple Blossom Egg" now belongs to Adulf Peter Goop, Vaduz, Lichtenstein.

Fabergé Friday

This Friday's Imperial Easter Egg comes in place number forty-four, and is called the "Bay Tree Egg", or "Orange Tree Egg". It's from 1911!

This egg is shaped like a bay - or orange - tree, which foliage is made of finely engraved nephrite leaves. Among these leaves sits white enamel flowers with diamond pistils, and citrine, amethyst, ruby and champagne diamond berries.

The tree grows out of a quartz tub, decorated with a gold trelliswork, green laurel swags suspended from rubies, and filled with hammered gold soil. The tub itself stands on a nephrite base with four nephrite posts, connected by swags of green enamel leaves and pearls. 

The surprise is yet again one of Fabergé's amazing automatons! If the correct "berry" on the tree is turned, a portion of the foliage on the top opens up, and a little nightingale - covered in real feathers -  emerges singing while moving its head, wings and beak.

Inside the egg a little bellows produces the birdsong, as the whole tree revolves on its trunk. When the song ends, the bird automatically returns down into its nest. 

The "Bay Tree Egg" was based on a mechanical, 18th century bay tree by the French jeweler and clockmaker Richard. This egg can now be seen in the Vekselberg collection, after Viktor Vekselberg bought it in 2004, as one of nine Imperial Easter Eggs, for which he payed almost 100 million dollars...