A RARE GUILLOCHÉ ENAMEL GOLD PILLBOX

The surviving album of Wigström's designs contains a number of works with images of buildings and monuments of St Petersburg. The image of the monument to Peter the Great, created by the French sculptor Etienne-Maurice Falconet, and the Fortress of Peter and Paul were often used to decorate Russian snuff boxes, porcelain and glass works in the 18th and 19th centuries. Fabergé continued to popularise the views of the city, encapsulating St Petersburg's most famous landmarks in miniature.
For a comparable box from the Royal Collection, decorated with the same views of St Petersburg, see C. de Guitaut, Fabergé in the Royal Collection, London, 2003, p. 136, no. 156.