Fabergé vanity case, workmaster Henrik Wigström, St. Petersburg, Russia, 1908-1912 

Gold, emerald, glass, foil, enamel

5/16 x 2 13/16 x 1 3/4 in. (0.9 x 7.2 x 4.5 cm) 

Inv. no. ab_0228

The Beilin-Makagon Art Foundation is proud to have loaned this case to the Victoria & Albert Museum’s exhibition “Fabergé in London: Romance to Revolution,” on view from 20 November 2021 – 8 May 2022.

This vanity case opens by means of an emerald pushpiece to reveal a mirror and hinged compartments for powder and lipstick. In the period around 1900, vanity and cigarette cases functioned like a fashionable accessory. Those with the means to do so purchased numerous examples in different colors and different decorative schemes to harmonize with their clothing, the event’s formality, or simply for display.

Provenance: 

Purchased by Mrs. Nancy Leeds (1873-1923), later Princess Anastasia of Greece and Denmark, from Fabergé, London, 14th December 1916 for £78.

Exhibited: 

London, Victoria & Albert Museum, “Fabergé: Romance to Revolution,” 20 November 2021 – 8 May 2022, no. 114

Publications:

McCarthy, Kieran. Fabergé in London: The British Branch of the Russian Imperial Goldsmith. Woodbridge: ACC, 2017, p. 167-8.

McCarthy, Kieran, et al. Fabergé: Romance to Revolution. London: V&A Publishing, 2021, no. 114, pp. 134-5.