A JEWELLED GOLD-MOUNTED NEPHRITE AND ROCK CRYSTAL STUDY OF A DANDELION

Franz Birbaum, the senior master craftsman of the Fabergé firm, in his memoirs writes: 'The dandelions were particularly successful: their fluff was natural and fixed on a golden thread with a small, uncut diamond... The shining points of the diamond among the white fluff were marvellously successful and prevented this artificial flower from being too close a reproduction of nature' (quoted in T. Fabergé and V. Skurlov, The history of the House of Fabergé, St Petersburg, 1992, p. 43).
Most of the flower studies, however, are not signed or even hallmarked because of a lack of space on the delicate gold stems. There are, on the other hand, some flowers, admittedly rare, which are signed by Fabergé's head workmaster Henrik Wigström (Alexander von Solodkoff, Fabergé, London, 1988, p. 70). Of twenty of the flower studies in the Royal Collection, for example, three have Wigström's mark and were acquired from Faberge's London branch in the early 1900s.
For another study of a dandelion, see Christie's, New York, 20 April 2000, lot 73.