A JEWELED AND GOLD-MOUNTED NEPHRITE BOX

BY FABERGÉ, WORKMASTER HENRIK WIGSTRÖM, ST. PETERSBURG, 1908-1917, SCRATCHED INVENTORY NUMBER 21457

Details

Rectangular, the hinged cover and base with gold mounts, the gold clasp and two back hinges set with two cabochon rubies each, marked on rims with ‘Fabergé’ in Cyrillic and workmaster’s initials
3 3/8 in. (8.5 cm.) long
Provenance

Purchased by Princess Clara von Hatzfeldt (1860-1928) from the London branch of Fabergé on 4 December 1911 for £40.
Literature

Exhibition catalogue, Fabergé: Exhibition for the Benefit of the Scholarship Fund of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, New York, 1983, p. 68, no. 168 (illustrated).
G. von Habsburg, Fabergé in America, New York, 1996, p. 43, no. 17 (illustrated).
Exhibited

New York, A La Vieille Russie, Fabergé: Exhibition for the Benefit of the Scholarship Fund of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Design, 22 April - 21 May 1983, no. 168.
San Francisco, M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, Fabergé in America, May 25 - July 28, 1996, no. 17; also travelled to New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art; Richmond, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; New Orleans, Fine Arts Museum; and Cleveland Museum of Art.


Lot Essay

Princess Clara von Hatzfeldt zu Wildenburg (née Clara Elizabeth Prentice, then Prentice-Huntington) was an American heiress and member of the Huntington family. In 1889, she married Prince Francis von Hatzfeldt-Wildenburg, a German aristocrat and racehorse owner. Having inherited a fortune of $6 million, she assumed a prominent position in English society and was often invited for dinner with King Edward VII. Between 1907-1916, she acquired over fifty works by Fabergé from the London shop.