Live Auction 7772Russian Art
A Silver-Gilt and Guilloché Enamel Box
Lot 1 Session I
Tuesday 1 December 2009 at 10.30am
(Lots 1-228)

A Silver-Gilt and Guilloché Enamel Box

BY FABERGÉ, WITH THE WORKMASTER'S CYRILLIC INITIALS 'AP' FOR ALEXANDER PETROV, ST PETERSBURG, 1896-1908

Closed2 December 2009

Price Realised

GBP 34,850

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A Silver-Gilt and Guilloché Enamel Box
By Fabergé, with the workmaster's Cyrillic initials 'AP' for Alexander Petrov, St Petersburg, 1896-1908
Heart-shaped, enamelled in translucent red over a basketweave guilloché ground, the hinged cover centering a gold paillon spray of flowers within a leaf and swag border, with a silver acanthus-chased rim, gilt interior, marked inside cover and base
1¾ in. (4.5 cm.) long

With Ermitage, London.
Acquired from the above by the present owner.

Specialist note

The present lot represents the rarest type of decoration found only on Fabergé's most elaborate enamelled works, paillons, or ornaments of gold leaf incorporated into the enamel.
The workmaster Alexander Petrov supervised Fabergé's enamel workshops in St Petersburg, however, according to Eugene Fabergé, the technique of paillons was the work of a Czech master named Trasser. See A. von Solodkoff, Fabergé, London, 1988, p. 94.