Fabergé Imperial presentation brooch for a dazenne of Dunkirk, workmaster Alfred Thielemann (most probably), St. Petersburg, 1901-1902

Engraved in French on the reverse of the ribbon: À Madame Marie Leroy.

Gold, diamond, gilded silver, enamel

1 1/2 x 1 7/16 x 1/2 in. (3.84 x 3.73 x 1.26 cm)

Inv. no. ab_0965

Provenance: 

Mme. Marie Leroy (?-?)

Publications:

The design for this brooch is reproduced in “The Tsar’s Visit to France in 1902. A Gift for Fisherwomen,” in Fabergé: A Comprehensive Reference Book, Tatiana Fabergé, et al, eds. Geneva: Editions Slatkine, 2012, p. 456.

When Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna stopped in Dunkirk, France on 17 and 18 September 1901, their day included a meeting with the city’s ‘bazennes.’ The bazennes, wives of fishing boat captains, played an official role in greeting visiting dignitaries. They presented the emperor and empress with a particularly large and splendid fish modeled in silver. Upon their return to Russia in September 1901, the Imperial couple commissioned Fabergé to create a group of three new, original designs from which a total of nine brooches would be made and given as gifts to the bazennes. All of the designs incorporated the same basic elements of the Imperial double-headed eagle with a large diamond set in the shield on its breast and Dunkirk’s coat-of-arms. 

One other brooch from this group has survived and is now in the collection of Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens in Washington, DC in the United States. Unfortunately, the name of the recipient was not engraved on the reverse.