Lot 23
23
A JEWELLED, ENAMEL AND GOLD-MOUNTED PURPURINE PARASOL HANDLE
A JEWELLED, ENAMEL AND GOLD-MOUNTED PURPURINE PARASOL HANDLE
A JEWELLED, ENAMEL AND GOLD-MOUNTED PURPURINE PARASOL HANDLE
1 More
A JEWELLED, ENAMEL AND GOLD-MOUNTED PURPURINE PARASOL HANDLE
4 More
A JEWELLED, ENAMEL AND GOLD-MOUNTED PURPURINE PARASOL HANDLE

BY FABERGÉ, WORKMASTER MICHAEL PERCHIN, ST PETERSBURG, CIRCA 1890, SCRATCHED INVENTORY NUMBER 54493

Details
A JEWELLED, ENAMEL AND GOLD-MOUNTED PURPURINE PARASOL HANDLE
BY FABERGÉ, WORKMASTER MICHAEL PERCHIN, ST PETERSBURG, CIRCA 1890, SCRATCHED INVENTORY NUMBER 54493
The purpurine handle of spherical form, reeded throughout, above a gold-mounted shaft enamelled in opaque white, decorated with a trellis-work of chased gold laurel leaves set with rose-cut diamonds at intervals, marked on rim with workmaster's initials
2 5⁄8 in. (6.8 cm.) high
Provenance
Purchased by Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (1872-1918) from the St Petersburg branch of Fabergé on 22 November 1896 for 110 roubles.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, New York, 4 November 2010, lot 60.
Literature
Exhibition catalogue, Fabergé. A Loan Exhibition, New York, 1983, p. 88, no. 277 (illustrated).
Exhibition catalogue, Carl Fabergé. A Private Collection, London, 2012, p. 111, no. 92 (illustrated).
Exhibited
New York, A La Vieille Russie, Fabergé. A Loan Exhibition, 22 April - 21 May 1983, no. 277.
London, Wartski, Carl Fabergé. A Private Collection, 15 - 25 May 2012, no. 92.

Brought to you by

Margo Oganesian
Margo Oganesian Head of Department, Fabergé and Russian Works of Art
+44 (0)20 7389 2783

Lot Essay

Fabergé made extensive and exclusive use of purpurine, a vivid opaque matt red glass. Purpurine is extremely difficult to make and its production was limited. It is created by crystallising lead chromate in a glass matrix, a technique first discovered in Italy during the seventeenth century. In the nineteenth century Sergei Petukhov, a craftsman at the Imperial Glass Factory, rediscovered the method for creating purpurine. It is thought that Petukhov either supplied the formula to Fabergé or that Fabergé's workmasters mounted pieces of purpurine made at the Imperial Glass Factory.

We are grateful to Dmitry Krivoshey for his assistance with the research of the present lot.

More from A Selection of Fabergé Masterpieces from the Harry Woolf Collection

View All
View All