Miniature portrait of Marina Aleksandrovna Golenishcheva-Kutuzova (1880-1951) by Vasilii Zuev in a silver frame by Fabergé workmaster Victor Aarne, St. Petersburg 1899-1904 (frame); c. 1900-1901 (miniature)

Gouache and watercolor on ivory, silver
2 15/16 x 2 1/8 in. (7.5 x 5.5 cm)
Inv. no. ab_4209

In this portrait of Countess Marina Golenishcheva-Kutuzova, she wears her diamond-set maid of honor’s chiffre on a pale blue ribbon pinned to her white dress. It is formed as the Cyrillic initials M and A indicating that she is a maid of honor to both Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. Golenishcheva-Kutuzova was awarded the position in April 1900 at the age of 20 and “retired” after her marriage to Count Dmitry Grabbe (1874-1927).

The number of maids of honor who lived in the palace in which the empresses were resident was quite small. Historian Ulla Tillander-Godenhielm has described the official role of young women like Golenishcheva-Kutuzova: “Maids of honour ‘of the city’ (gorodskie freiliny) were so called because, as opposed to the maids of honour of the suite [of whom there were fewer], they were not required to live at the palace.”

Her lovely portrait reflects the skills of Vasilii Zuev (1870-1941), one of Fabergé’s leading miniaturists. He painted the miniatures on many of the Imperial Easter eggs including the Fifteenth Anniversary Egg, the Tercentenary Egg of 1913, the 1914 Grisaille Egg, and on the surprise of the 1916 Steel Military Egg. Zuev is rather famous for his demands, with which Carl Fabergé apparently happily complied. The painter found it difficult to work in the northern city with its short winter days and dark days. The jeweler facilitated his work in a southern resort area with stronger light. After the 1917 revolution, he returned to his small home village in the province of Samara and spent the remainder of his life there. The young Countess and her husband, an officer in the Russian Army, escaped to France.