BOOK REVIEW: Fabergé Rediscovered

Fabergé Rediscovered

Wilfried Zeisler

ISBN: 978-1-911282-16-7

D Giles Ltd

In association with Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens

£35.00

Catherine the Great Egg. Firm of Fabergé, 1914. Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, acc. no. 11.81.1-2. © Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens / Photograph by Alex Braun

This new book focuses on the well-known collection of Fabergé at Hillwood and relates how new research and discovery of pieces thought to have been lost impact on items among the ninety or so pieces collected by Mrs Post.

We learn more about Fabergé’s firm in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries and its place in the world of goldsmithing and jewellery creation at that time. It is a fascinating and beautifully illustrated study that will appeal to collectors and lovers of social history alike.

fig145_Marjorie-Merriweather-Post-showing-clock-MA jpeg

Fig 143 (page 162) Marjorie Merriweather Post showing her Fabergé table clock to guests at Hillwood, Washington D.C., 1960s © Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens Archives

The chapter on Mrs Post as a collector of Fabergé is revealing and one understands what type of works appealed to her aesthetically and the reasons why some offers were turned down. She certainly had a discerning eye!

gilesltd.com

AUCTION ALERT: Russian Imperial Glasses

Oct7

Ceramics and Glass Sale, Chiswick Auctions, 1 Colville Road, London W3 8BL, October 11, 2016

A collection of Russian Royal glassware spanning major important reigns

This is an interesting group of Russian Imperial Glassware dating from the reigns of Catherine I (1725-1727) to Nicholas II (1868-1918). Estimates range from £500 upwards.

http://www.chiswickauctions.co.uk/

BOOK REVIEW: Konstantin Makovsky

Dec9

Konstantin Makovsky The Tsar’s Painter in America and Paris

Wendy Salmond, Wilfried Zeisler and Russell E. Martin

Published by GILES in association with the Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens

PRICE — UK£29.95/US$45.00

ISBN — 978-1-907804-70-0

9781907804700

Konstantin Makovsky (1839-1915) was a Russian artist whose career encompasses late 19^th century Imperial Russia, Paris and America. He is particularly known for three large-scale works which depict the customs of traditional aristocratic Boyar weddings and reflect the interest of the time in the Old Russian Style of pre-Petrine Russia.

Konstantin Makovsky
Imperial Dinner Table in the Palace of Facets
1883

The three paintings that are central to this fascinating book are A Boyar Wedding Feast (1883) which hangs in the Pavilion at Hillwood in Washington DC, Choosing the Bride (1887), and The Russian Bride’s Attire (1889). The book reveals that as well as pictures such as these Makovsky also painted Orientalist pictures while in Paris.

This is a beautifully illustrated book which deservedly celebrates the colourful world of this talented artist. A visual treat in every way.

Konstantin Makovsky
A Boyar Wedding Feast
1883

The exhibition Konstantin Makovsky: The Tsar’s Painter runs at Hillwood Museum 13^th February – 12^th June 2016

http://www.hillwoodmuseum.org

http://www.gilesltd.com

Book Review: Russian Decorative Arts

Jan13

Russian Decorative Arts

Cynthia Coleman Sparke

Antique Collectors’ Club Ltd

ISBN-10: 1851497226
ISBN-13: 978-1851497225

£55.00

This is a welcome book that looks at Pre-revolutionary Russian decorative arts in some detail and allows us to learn more about Russian woodwork, jewellery and enamel, hardstone, awards and decorations, silver, bone, lacquer, glass, porcelain and, of course, Fabergé. It is a useful, informative, well written tool for both established and novice collectors and I am sure it will encourage the interest of many more in this fascinating area of collecting.

While the cover photograph is appropriately enough of the Yusupov 25th Wedding Anniversary Fabergé music box at Hillwood Museum in Washington where the author worked for a time, most illustrations come from the auctioneers Bonhams.

Cartier II – MARJORIE MERRIWEATHER POST

Dec22

CARTIER: MARJORIE MERRIWEATHER POST’S DAZZLING GEMS, Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens, Washington DC, until December 31, 2014

Portrait of Marjorie Merriweather Post, 1946
Frank O. Salisbury
England
Post wears Cartier diamond and sapphire Art Deco necklace
Courtesy Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens

Although there are two factors that suggest that I should not write about this – one the distance from London and two the fact that it is nearly over – I will still mention it in association with my Cartier book review.

Necklace, 1936/1937
Centerpiece by Cartier, New York
Sapphires, diamonds, platinum
Courtesy Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens

While many of you will know of Mrs Post’s collections of French and Russian decorative arts (the latter is considered the best outside of Russia) she was also a serious collector of jewellery of the highest quality and ranks among the great American Cartier patrons. This exhibition which combines Hillwood’s own holdings of her jewellery and some of the jewellery she donated to the Smithsonian in 1964 reflects her taste and style. Among the loans is the Maximilian Emerald ring, named after the ill-fated Mexican Emperor, which she wore when presented at the English Royal court in 1929. She also had a French carpet that belonged to the Emperor in her Hillwood dining room.

Photograph of Marjorie Post taken at the time of her presentation of the Court of St. James’s in 1929.
Courtesy Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens

Nor were her Cartier purchases and commissions restricted to jewellery as she ordered frames in enamel, agate and onyx, sometimes adorned with semi-precious stones which were specially designed to complement the intended image they were to contain. Gem-set gold vanity cases and an extensive silver and enamel dressing table set were among her other purchases.

Compact and Lipstick Case, ca. 1920
Cartier, New York
Gold, enamel, lapis lazuli, diamonds
This Cartier piece serves both practical and decorative purposes. The lipstick case and compact are both enameled in black and white with lapis lazuli and diamond accents. Each component suspends from enameled chains that attach to a gold ring. The interior of the compact is fitted with a mirror and also has a small compartment for coins. The ring to which the compact and lipstick case are attached can be slipped onto a finger so that the items can also be worn as an accessory.
Courtesy Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens

Although the exhibition ends soon some of her jewellery is displayed in Hillwood; a house that perfectly reflects her interests and style and should be a must see place for any visitor to Washington DC.

Frames with Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna and Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna, ca. 1910
Cartier frame
Gold, silver, enamel, ivory
Courtesy Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens

http://www.HillwoodMuseum.org

UN MOMENT DE PERFECTION

Nov28

UN MOMENT DE PERFECTION, Christie’s King Street, London, 3^rd December, 2014

The Hallway, showing to the left of the mirrored doors:
Lot 53
Christina Robertson (1796-1854)
Portrait of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia, née Princess Charlotte of Prussia, three-quarter length, in an ermine-lined red mantle, in a park landscape
signed ‘C. Robertson Pinxit’ (lower right)
oil on canvas
50 7/8 x 38 7/8 in. (129 x 98 cm.)
Estimate £30,000 – 50,000
CHRISTIE’S IMAGES LTD. 2014

There is really no other way in my mind to describe an interior by Maison Jansen, especially where it’s legendary director Stéphane Boudin and his successor Pierre Delbée were involved. The interiors from which this collection comes are a fine example of the firm’s work.

Interior View
CHRISTIE’S IMAGES LTD. 2014

Jansen’s clients included the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, the Wrightsmans, the Agnellis, C Z Guest and President and Mrs Kennedy. I was fortunate enough early in my writing career to write about Boudin and the work he did for Lady Baillie at Leeds Castle and her London house and it was a fascinating exercise. I totally understood why she chose him to create the background for her life.

Lot 20
ONE OF A PAIR OF LATE LOUIS XVI ORMOLU SIX-LIGHT CANDELABRA
ATTRIBUTED TO PIERRE GOUTHIERE CIRCA 1785-1790, POSSIBLY RETAILED BY DOMINIQUE DAGUERRE
Each surmounted by a bouquet of rose stems from a flower and fruit-filled basket on a sphere-capped baluster issuing six scrolling horn-shaped branches on a circular plinth with palmette-cast frieze, the three supports headed by satyr masks and enclosing a suspended amphora to the centre, the base with griffin supports on a concave-sided tripartite base centred by Medusa masks to each side on fluted toupie feet, the rose stems late 18th century and possibly later embellishments
46 ½ in. (118 cm.) high; 16 in. (40.5 cm.) deep
Estimate £350,000 – 500,000
CHRISTIE’S IMAGES LTD. 2014

Whatever the mise-en-scene Jansen were superb at incorporating their clients’ collections and advising them on suitable acquisitions. This sale contains some superb pieces of fine and decorative art, including two beautiful capricci of Rome by Hubert Robert, Italian commodes designed by Luigi Valadier and a superb pair of ormolu candelabra attributed to celebrated French ciseleur-doreur Pierre Gouthière.

Lot 30
ONE OF A PAIR OF ITALIAN NEOCLASSICAL ORMOLU-MOUNTED PADOUK, ROSEWOOD AND MARQUETRY COMMODES, ROME, CIRCA 1784-75, THE DESIGN AND MOUNTS BY LUIGI VALADIER
Each with a green, grey and white striated marble top above an ormolu stiff-leaf moulded edge, above two drawers centred by classical mask handles within laurel wreaths within a guilloche border, the sides similarly inlaid and centred by a handle, on turned tapering fluted columnar legs and stiff-leaf sabots
37 ¼ in. (94.5 cm.) high; 52 ¾ in. (134 cm.) wide; 26 ¼ in. (66.5 cm.) deep, overall
36 in. (91 cm.) high; 52 in. (132 cm.) wide; 26 in. (66 cm.) deep. without marble
Estimate £600,000 – 1,000,000
CHRISTIE’S IMAGES LTD. 2014

There are many other beautiful things too that will inspire purchasers to buy a little piece of this superb lifestyle that Jansen created with their clients.

The Dining Room showing on the far wall:
Lot 36
Hubert Robert (Paris 1733-1808)
The Forum, Rome, with the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina and figures resting in the foreground; and the Forum, Rome, with the Temple of Saturn and figures conversing and resting by a sculpted vase
oil on canvas
25¼ x 31 in. (64.2 x 78.5 cm.)
(2) a pair
Estimate £200,000 – 400,000
CHRISTIE’S IMAGES LTD. 2014

See: Un Moment de Perfection: An Important Private Collection of French 18^th Century Furniture and Old Master Paintings at http://www.christies.com

The Third Imperial Egg at Wartski, 14th to 17th April only

Apr11

The Third Imperial Egg, Wartski, 14 Grafton Street, London W1

I feel sure that many of you will have read the story of the amazing rediscovery of this Easter Egg created by the Tsar’s goldsmith, Carl Fabergé, and so I will not fully repeat it here.

This superbly made egg was the gift of Tsar Alexander III to his wife Marie Feodorovna for Easter 1887. There was a long-established tradition in Russia of giving eggs at Easter which, like in other Christian denomonations, is regarded as the most important festival in the Russian Orthodox religious year. The eggs were also regarded as a token of deep love.

So given in 1887, loaned by the Empress to a charity exhibition in 1902 in the Von Dervis Mansion (you can just see it above on the second shelf of the vitrine containing the Empress’s loans, including other Fabergé eggs) and confiscated by the Bolsheviks during the Revolution. It was put up for sale by the Soviet government in 1922 and then disappeared from sight until it was sold in New York by the auctioneers Parke-Bernet in March, 1964. At that time no one realised its significance and it was sold for the equivalent of £875. Fortunately it was illustrated in the catalogue and when this was discovered by Fabergé researchers in 2011 hopes of its continuing survival were raised.

As you may know it had disappeared again but was subsequently bought for its gold scrap value at a bric-a-brac market by a man living in the Mid-West of the USA. He tried to sell it seven times to no avail but when eventually he typed Egg and Vacheron Constantin into Google he came across an article on the egg’s survival in the Telegraph which quoted Wartski director Kieran McCarthy, so he got in touch with Kieran (the photo shows how Kieran first saw the egg in the States) and the rest, as they say, is history.

Wartski are Royal Warrant holders and leading experts on the work of Carl Fabergé.

I quote here a full description of the egg:
The reeded yellow gold egg opens by pressing the brilliant cut diamond pushpiece, to reveal a Vacheron Constantin watch with diamond set gold hands that is hinged to allow it to stand upright, the egg is supported on an elaborate sabléd gold stand, stood on lion paw feet and encircled by finely chased coloured gold garlands suspended from three cabochon blue sapphires topped with rose diamond set bows. Made in the workshop of Fabergé’s Chief-Jeweller: August Holmström in St. Petersburg, 1886-1887. Height 8.2 cm.

The Egg is similar in size to a hen’s egg as were the previous two Easter Eggs made for the Tsar but this is the first of the Imperial Egg’s to have a special stand. It was quite usual for the stand to be of a different style to the egg. The garlands adorning the stand are made of individual parts which have been pegged together. The “surprise” is the Vacheron Constantin pocket watch and it is thought that it may have had a special significance to the Empress and that is why her husband decided to have the watch encased in this egg.

As I write this I am still absorbing the marvellous experience and privilege of having been able to hold and examine this wonderful, historical object. For obvious reasons this cannot happen on public show but when you come to see the egg on display you will also be able to see images from the “miraculous” history of its survival. Do give a silent vote of thanks to the new owner who has so generously allowed it to be seen and its return to be celebrated in this exciting way!

Open to the public from Monday, 14th to Thursday, 17th April from 11am to 5pm. Entrance is free, but queues are expected.

http://www.wartski.com

Pictures are courtesy of Wartski

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