Live Auction 7905Russian Art
A Silver-Gilt, Cloisonné and Guilloché Enamel Cigarette Case
Lot 225 PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, USA

A Silver-Gilt, Cloisonné and Guilloché Enamel Cigarette Case

MARKED GRACHEV WITH THE IMPERIAL WARRANT, CYRILLIC MAKER'S MARK 'EP', ST PETERSBURG, 1904-1908

Closed29 November 2010

Price Realised

GBP 5,250

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A Silver-Gilt, Cloisonné and Guilloché Enamel Cigarette Case
Marked Grachev with the Imperial warrant, Cyrillic maker's mark 'EP', St Petersburg, 1904-1908
Rectangular, the hinged cover and base cloisonné enamelled with vari-coloured stylized scrolling foliage and fantastical animal heads, centring a lobed cartouche with gold and green foliate paillons on a hatched red guilloché ground, with silver push-piece, the inside cover inscribed with the facsimile signatures, I. Tatichef Drenteln Dr. Eug. Botkin O Butzow, marked inside cover and base
3½ in. (8.9 cm.) wide

Baron Reinhold Ungern-Sternberg.
By descent through the family to the present owner.

Specialist note

By family tradition, this cigarette case was presented to Baron Reinhold Ungern-Sternberg.

Dr Eugene Botkin (1865-1918), was the court physician for Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. He followed the Imperial family into exile and was murdered with them in Ekaterinburg in 1918. General Ilya Tatischeff (1859-1918) was aide-de-camp to Emperor Nicholas II and likewise followed the Imperial family into exile. He was murdered by the Bolsheviks in 1918. Alexander Drenteln (1868-1925), former Commander of the Preobrazhenskii Life-Guards Regiment, served as Major General of His Majesty's suite. He remained in the Soviet Union following the Civil War and died in Vologda. Olga von Bützow (1877-1925) was a lady-in-waiting to Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and later married officer George Papa-Fedorov.

For further information on the relationship of the above to the Imperial family, see A. Spiridovich, Last Days at the Court of Tsarskoe-Selo, Paris, 1928.