Auction of the Week: Rare Fabergé Frame Fetches $750,000, Setting New Record

The diamond-set and enameled gold-mounted Bowenite egg-shaped frame, from a California private collection, contains an original photo of Empress Maria Feodorovna and predates 1896. The works from this private collection had reportedly made their way to the U.S. via Prince Vasili Romanoff; the young prince Vasili, his mother Grand Duchess Ksenia, the Dowager Empress.

Royal Fabergé treasures designed by Peter Carl Fabergé, jeweler and goldsmith to the Russian imperial court, made up eight of the top ten lots in the sale. A Fabergé diamond and champlevé enameled gold-mounted purpurin elephant once owned by Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, for example, sold for $312,500; a Fabergé two-color gold and opalescent pink guilloché enameled diamond-shaped clock that once belonged to the Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna, fetched $300,000; and the Empress-owned Fabergé gold-mounted hardstone cockerel brought $300,000; and this Fabergé Feodor Rückert cloisonné and En Plein enameled gilt silver box owned by Empress which sold for $250,000.

The sale included a number of other highlights too, showcasing the flourishing arts and patronage of the time. The second highest-priced object was a rediscovered Imperial Lampada designed by Feodor Solntsev for the Chudov Monastery at the Kremlin, coming from the Nelkin Collection. “It was the greatest pleasure for me as a specialist,” says Nicholson, “to watch it reach a historic price of $475,000.” The Tsesarevich Alexander Nikolaevich had commissioned the piece to commemorate the recovery of the Tsesarevna and her son the Grand Duke during a time of poor health. Confiscated by the Soviets and sold abroad, it has not been seen in public since 1980.

“It was a classic Russian Works of Art sale, with Imperial Fabergé, enamels, paintings, sculpture, furniture, decorative arts and Imperial ephemera of a type not seen in the U.S. since the 1990s when the Russian market moved to London. Collectors responded eagerly,” says Nick Nicholson, Heritage’s Senior Specialist in Russian Works of Art. “All the objects in the sale were consigned by American collectors and American estates, and the majority of significant lots were purchased by U.S. collectors. The sale shows that the market remains strong for superlative objects with important provenances.”