Every so often a once in a lifetime shoot comes your way as a photographer…
A fellow photographer (thank you Paul!) recommended me to The Cotswold Auction Company to photograph a piece that gave me goosebumps!
Coming from a family of jewellers on my Mother’s side; the name Fabergé is one that inspires and stuns. And for once I was lost for words when I saw this one off miniature gold, jade and rock crystal sedan chair by Fabergé.
Sedan chairs are among the rarest objets de fantasie produced by Fabergé. Less than 10 are known about with at least one of these according to workshop ledgers being purchased by Nicholas II of Russia in 1896 for 900 roubles.
What I wasn’t prepared for was the emotion is created. I kid you not; I nearly cried at the exquisite craftsmanship and detail work.
This piece bears the mark for work master Mikhail Perchin who was the maker of all but three of the imperial Easter eggs that Faberge is perhaps best known for.
This Sedan Chair is the same one as pictured in Kenneth Snowman’s 1962 ‘bible’ The Art of Carl Fabergé.
“Discovering the sedan chair in Kenneth Snowman’s book was rather a spine-tingling moment. It belongs to a family who collected some absolute gems in the early 20th century – and have looked after them ever since.”
Auctioneers Lindsey Braune and Elizabeth Poole.
Another one of these Sedan Chairs created in guilloché enamel was bought from Fabergé by the Dutch rubber magnate Maximillian Neuscheller. In 2017 this was sold at Christie’s in London for £700,000.
The Sedan Chair has excellent provenance, having been in the same family since it was purchased in 1929 from Wartski in London for £75. Some thirty years after it was made between c.1899-1903.
If you’d like your own piece of Fabergé and have at least £60,000 – £80,000 to spend it will be offered at the silver, jewellery, Asian art, antiques and interiors sale on September 10 at The Cotswold Auction Company.
See the Catalogue entry below and at Fabergé Sedan Chair…