Live Auction 18370Russian Art
A LARGE GEM-SET SILVER-MOUNTED NEPHRITE ASHTRAY
Lot 108 PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE FRENCH COLLECTION

A LARGE GEM-SET SILVER-MOUNTED NEPHRITE ASHTRAY

MARKED FABERGÉ, WITH THE WORKMASTER'S MARK OF KARL ARMFELT, ST PETERSBURG, 1908-1917, SCRATCHED INVENTORY NUMBER 23079

Closed23 November 2020

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GBP 37,500

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A LARGE GEM-SET SILVER-MOUNTED NEPHRITE ASHTRAY
MARKED FABERGÉ, WITH THE WORKMASTER'S MARK OF KARL ARMFELT, ST PETERSBURG, 1908-1917, SCRATCHED INVENTORY NUMBER 23079
Triangular with rounded and furled corners, the nephrite dish entwined with silver mounts cast and chased as a snake, its head set with cabochon garnet eyes, marked on mounts, also with London import marks for 1914; in a fitted Wartski case
7 1/8 in. (18 cm.) long

Purchased by Prince Alexander of Battenberg (1886-1960) from Fabergé's London branch on 11 February 1915 for £65.
Acquired by the previous owner from Wartski, London, in 1980.
Thence by descent to the present owner.

Specialist note

This large and impressive nephrite ashtray decorated with a silver snake was acquired by Prince Alexander of Battenberg (1886-1960), a grandson of Queen Victoria. Born at Windsor Castle, Alexander was the eldest of the four children of Princess Beatrice and Prince Henry of Battenberg.

Prince Alexander attended Wellington College in Crowthorne. Following the graduation, he served in the Royal Navy between 1902 and 1908. In 1911, Prince Alexander joined the British Army and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1913 and in 1915, the year he acquired the present ashtray, he was promoted to captain.

When World War I started in August of 1914, Prince Alexander’s regiment was under deployment orders. In 1917, he was awarded the Russian Order of St Vladimir Fourth Class with Swords, for distinguished service to the Allied cause.

For a comparable nephrite dish with a snake from the collection of Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, see Exhibition catalogue, Wartski, Japonisme: from Falize to Fabergé, London, 2011, p. 69, no. 130.