A jasper model of a hen by Fabergé
Naturalistically rendered model of a hen carved from greyish blue agate with two ruby cabochons for the eyes and legs of 18k gold. In the original fitted wooden case inscribed to the interior "FABERGÉ, ST. PETERSBURG, MOSKAU, LONDON". With an inconspicuous restoration to the neck. Hallmarks: Fineness 72, maker's mark Henrik Emanuel Wigström (Goldberg no. 1536). H 5 cm.
St. Petersburg, Carl Fabergé, c. 1907.
In 1907, Edward VII commissioned Fabergé to produce miniatures of all the animals kept by the royal couple at their country estate at Sandringham in Norfolk. Fabergé sent the young artist Boris Frödman-Cluzel to make a wax model of each animal, which was later carved in hardstone in Russia, set with gold and precious stones and sent to London. The so-called Sandringham Commission included chickens, ducks and chicks, but also horses, dogs, bulls and pigs. It was on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, from November 2021 to May 2022: https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/faberg%C3%A9-the-sandringham-commission.
We would like to thank Mr Alexander v. Solodkoff for kindly providing his expertise.
Provenance
Private collection, Westphalia.
Literature
Cf. a hen in the Woolf Collection illus. in Alexander von Solodkoff, Fabergé, Juwelier des Zarenhofes, Berlin 1995, no. 30.
For more on Fabergé's hardstone carvings see also Géza von Habsburg (ed.), Fabergé - Cartier, Rivalen am Zarenhof, Munich 2004, p. 245 ff. For the Sandringham.order cf. Caroline de Guitaut, Fabergé's Animals, A Royal Farm in Miniature, London 2010, with numerous illustrations.