Fabergé cigarette case, workmaster Henrik Wigström, St. Petersburg, 1908-11

Gold, platinum, silver, diamonds, agate, enamel

3 1/2 x 1 3/4 x 1 7/32 in. (9 x 4.34 x 3.06 cm)

Inv. no. ab_0232

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.

Exhibited:

New York, A la Vieille Russie, “The Art of the Goldsmith and the Jeweler,” 6-23 November 1968.

London, Victoria & Albert Museum, “Fabergé: Romance to Revolution,” 20 November 2021 – 8 May 2022, no. 115

Publications: 

A la Vieille Russie [New York]. The Art of the Goldsmith and the Jeweler. New York: A la Vieille Russie, 1968, no. 308, p. 118.

McCarthy, Kieran. Fabergé in London: The British Branch of the Russian Imperial Goldsmith. Woodbridge: ACC, 2017, p. 168.

McCarthy, Kieran, et al. Fabergé: Romance to Revolution. London: V&A Publishing, 2021, no. 115, p. 135.

American heiress Nancy Leeds (1873-1923) purchased this elegant cigarette case by chief workmaster Henrik Wigström at Fabergé’s London branch in 1913 for £220. It was the most expensive item ever sold there. The price was understandable given the painstaking skill required to make it. The case was designed to catch the light in a unique manner. The gold surface is interrupted by fine lines of white opaque champlevé enamel which soften any potential glare and make the case appear to glow. The effect is repeated in the pink agate panels on each side. They are backed with foil to reflect light. The central panel on the lid is decorated with a bow, quiver, and arrow – all attributes of Cupid and symbols of love – set with small rose cut diamonds. This case well illustrates Peter Carl Fabergé’s famous statement in a 1914 interview that, for him, an object’s value lay in the perfection of the design rather than the cost of the gems or gold from which it was made. 

On the reverse of the case, the initial A beneath a crown has been added. Presumably, it was Leeds herself who ordered this alteration. In 1920, she married Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark after a long engagement. To do so, she converted to Orthodox Christianity and, as was the practice, took the name of Anastasia, becoming Princess Anastasia of Greece and Denmark.