Samuel Arndt gold and enamel Imperial presentation cigarette case, St. Petersburg, Russia, 1877

Gold, enamel, steel, silk, cotton

3 7/8 x 2 1/2 in. (9.7 x 6.4 cm)

Inv. no. ab_1683

Provenance:

Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna and Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich

Exhibited: 

Moscow, Gosudarstvennyi istoriko-kulʹturnyi muzei-zapovednik "Moskovskii Kremlʹ", “Karl Faberzhe i Fedor Riukert. Shedevry russkoi emali,” 9 October 2020 – 14 February 2021, no. 446.

Publications:

Muntyan, T.N. Karl Faberzhe i Fedor Riukert. Shedevry russkoi emali. Moscow: Gosudarstvennyi istoriko-kulʹturnyi muzei-zapovednik "Moskovskii Kremlʹ", 2020. Cat. no. 446, p. 361.

The front is enameled dark blue in Cyrillic MARIA [Old Slavonic lettering) / 29 April 1877 / VLADIMIR (Old Slavonic lettering). On the reverse is the full text of Aleksei Tolstoi's 1854 popular poem Коль любить, так без рассудку…. The Maria and Vladimir whose names appear on the front of this case are Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich (1847-1909), brother to Emperor Alexander III and uncle to the future Nicholas II, and his wife Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (1854-1920). It is yet to be determined what this case commemorated.