A JEWELLED AND GOLD-MOUNTED AGATE MODEL OF A DUCKLING

The carved models of the rabbit, capercalzie and duckling (lots 15-17) were first exhibited as early as 1935, at the first major exhibition of Russian art in London. All three items are listed as property of Mme Emily Yznaga, the youngest of the three sisters Yznaga of Cuba. Her eldest sister Consuelo Montagu, Duchess of Manchester, was an important client of Fabergé with a particular interest in hardstone animals. Fabergé's London ledgers record a number of purchases by the Duchess of Manchester, including a chameleon, lion cub and elk.

Emily Yznaga was one of four children of the diplomat Antonio Modesto Yznaga del Valle and his wife Ellen Maria Clement. She never married and spent a lot of time with her sisters, the Duchess of Manchester and Maria de la Natividad ‘Natica’ Yznaga, who married Sir John Lister Kaye. All three sisters were renowned beauties and were celebrated figures in Edwardian high society. Their brother Fernando Yznaga, a New York banker, was married to Virginia Smith, sister of Mrs Alva Smith Vanderbilt Belmont.