Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna: An Imperial Fabergé Diamond-Set Patinated Silver-Mounted Nephrite Dish Fabergé, Workmaster Victor Aarne, St. Petersburg, before 1899, with scratched inventory number 3850 3-1/4 x 4-5/8 inches (8.3 x 11.7 cm) 100 grams (gross) PROVENANCE: Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, acquired January 12, 1898, for 150 rubles; Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrova and Grand Duke George Mikhailovich returned to Fabergé. EXHIBITED: Russian History Museum, Jordanville, New York, Last Days of the Last Tsar, July 17, 2018 – May 17, 2019. This unusual dish in carved nephrite was ordered by the Dowager Empress, likely as a Christmas gift, and billed on January 9, 1898 for 150 rubles. Empress Alexandra Feodorovna loved the ancient Sanskrit symbol of the sauvastika, the ancient Hindu counter-clockwise four armed figure of motion and change, which was regarded as an auspicious symbol by the young Empress. The symbol appeared on a number of the Empress' things, including as a car mascot on her Delaunay-Belleville automobile. After the revolution, while in captivity at Tobolsk, the Empress' daughter Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna embroidered the symbol on a linen cover for the Empress' diary. Also during her captivity, the Empress etched the symbol into window with a diamond ring. The symbol was not so popular with other members of the family; this dish was returned to Fabergé by Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna and Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich (cf. Gafifulin, item no. 2723). Heritage Auctions thanks Valentin Skurlov for his assistance with the research of this lot. Property from an Important Private Collection HID03101062020 © 2024 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved

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