The giving of miniatures had long been a common practice among wealthy and aristocratic families by the time Fabergé began combining portraits with his richly decorated frames. The Russian imperial family delighted in having these personal mementos and commissioned many different miniatures to place around their private apartments, providing a warm family atmosphere in an otherwise highly formal existence.

Inscriptions

Inscription

both miniatures signed: Zehngraf.

Inscription

1966.458.1(Tsar Nicholas II): Marks underneath base: 56, crossed anchors [assay mark for St. Petersburg, 1882-96]; hallmark for workmaster Mikhail Perkhin (in Cyrillic); FABERGE (in Cyrillic); scratched 312 H, BMM 1+.

Inscription

1966.458.2 (Grand Duchess Olga Nicolaievna): Marks underneath base: 56, crossed anchors [assay mark for St. Petersburg, 1882-96]; hallmark for workmaster Mikhail Perkhin (in Cyrillic); FABERGE (in Cyrillic); scratched 54471.

House of Fabergé

Peter Carl Faberge (1846-1920) took over the House of Faberge in 1870 from his father Carl Gustav Faberge who had founded the firm in 1842. Until 1881, the firm manufactured primarily jewelry for Saint Petersburg's aristocrats and wealthy elite. In 1885 the firm was awarded the coveted imperial warrant as goldsmith to the tsar and began to produce elaborate presentation Easter eggs as a gift for the tsarina from her husband every year. They also produced luxurious accessories, jewelry, and hardstone sculptures. At one point, Faberge employed over 300 workers including 22 workmasters who oversaw the production of the firm's jewelry and precious objects. A branch of the firm opened in Moscow in 1887, specializing in neo-Russian and pan-Slavic motifs in jewelry, silver, and enamel. Other branches followed in Kiev, London, and Odessa as well as new premises in Saint Petersburg. At the onset of the Russian Revolution, Peter Carl Faberge fled the country to Paris then Switzerland, where he died in 1920. His firm was nationalized by the Bolsheviks in 1918.

Provenance

1896-1918

Tsar Nicholas II [1868-1918] and Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna [1872-1918], purchased from the maker, November 22, 1896 (by tsarina) and December 18, 1896 (by tsar), Alexander Palace, Tsarskoye Selo, Russia ¹

1918-1922

Provisional Russian Government, Kremlin, Moscow

?-1948

(The Schaffer Collection of Russian Imperial Art Treasures [A La Vieille Russie, Inc.], New York, NY), sold to India Early Minshall, 1948.

1948-1966

India Early Minshall [1885-1965], Cleveland, OH, bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art

1966-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Provenance Footnotes

¹Imperial provenance discovered in Russian state ledgers by Kieran McCarthy, Wartski, London, 2019.

Citations

Hawley, Henry H. Fabergé and His Contemporaries: The India Early Minshall Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1967. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 24-5; cat. 8 ingallslibrary.on.worldcat.org

Habsburg, Géza von, and David Park Curry. Fabergé in America. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1996 Mentioned and reproduced: p. 107, cat. 83 ingallslibrary.on.worldcat.org

Hawley, Henry H., "Jeweler to the Czars", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 37 no. 03, March 1997 Mentioned and reproduced: p. 4 archive.org

Harrison, Stephen, Emmanuel Ducamp, and Jeannine J. Falino. Artistic Luxury: Fabergé Tiffany Lalique. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in association with New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 178, cat. 59, fig. 64 ingallslibrary.on.worldcat.org

Exhibition history

Charity Exhibition of Fabergé Artistic Objects, Old Miniatures, and Snuff Boxes (Выставка художественных произведений К. Фаберже в особняке П.П. фон Дервиза, Санкт-Петербург). Baron von Dervis Mansion, Saint Petersburg, Russia (March 1902).

The India Early Minshall Collection: Faberge and his Contemporaries. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 15, 1967-January 21, 1968).

Year in Review: 1967. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 29-December 31, 1967).

Faberge 1846 - 1920. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (organizer) (June 23-October 23, 1977).

Intimate Images: Portrait Miniatures from Europe and America. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 26-October 17, 1993).

Fabergé in America. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (February 12-May 5, 1996); Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (organizer) (May 25-July 28, 1996); Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (August 24-November 2, 1996); New Orleans Museum of Art (December 7, 1996-February 8, 1997); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 12-May 11, 1997).

Fabergé: Romance to Revolution. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (organizer) (November 20, 2021-May 8, 2022) https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/faberge.