Fabergé Imperial presentation cigarette case, workmaster Henrik Wigström, St. Petersburg, 1903-1904

Gold, enamel

3/4 x 3 7/16 x 2 1/2 in. (1.9 x 8.7 x 6.4 cm)

Inv. no. ab_0316

Presented to Prince Heinrich of Prussia (1862–1929) by Nicholas II on a visit to Swinemünde in 1907

Exhibited: 

New York, A La Vieille Russie, “Fabergé. A Loan Exhibition for the Benefit of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum,” April 22-May 21, 1983, cat. no. 198.

Publications:

A la Vieille Russie. Fabergé, a loan exhibition for the benefit of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum. New York: A la Vieille Russie, 1983, cat. no. 198, p. 75.

This case was presented to Prince Heinrich of Prussia (1862–1929) during the 1907 meeting of Nicholas II and Emperor Wilhelm II of Prussia (1859-1941) at the Baltic Sea resort of Swinemünde. The meeting was organized around joint naval maneuvers and was meant to reaffirm Russia’s cordial relations with Germany even as a new alliance between Russia, Britain, and France was in the making. The timing was particularly important because the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 would be signed in St. Petersburg only shortly after the meeting in Swinemünde. Prince Heinrich, Wilhelm’s younger brother, was commander of the German Imperial Navy’s High Seas [Battle] Fleet which had been created only earlier that year in order to challenge the British Navy.