A benefit of membership with the New Orleans Museum of Art
ARTSQUARTERLY VOLUME XXX ISSUE 4
NEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2008
OBJECTS OF DESIRE: Fabergé from the Hodges Family Collection BY JOHN WEBSTER KEEFE The RosaMary Foundation Curator of the Decorative Arts, NOMA
Imperial Photograph Frame, 1906 Silver-gilt, guilloché enamel, palisander, beveled glass, 10-7/8 x 8-1/8 inches Peter Carl Fabergé (Russian, 1846-1920) Anders Johan Nevalainen (Finnish, 1858-1933), workmaster St. Petersburg The Hodges Family Collection
One of the largest and most majestic of Fabergé’s photograph frames, this was purchased by the dowager empress of Russia, Maria Feodorovna, from Fabergé’s St. Petersburg shop on July 25, 1906. The piece was acquired specifically to hold the photograph of Tsar Nicholas II (r. 1896-1917), which it still contains. The photograph was one of Maria Feodorovna’s favorite images of her son. The workmaster for the frame was Anders Johan Nevalainen (Finnish, 1858-1933), a master goldsmith who had commenced his association with the House of Fabergé in 1885 through employment at the workshop of Fabergé workmaster August Wilhelm Holmström (Finnish, 1829-1903). Nevalainen eventually opened his own shop under exclusive contract to Fabergé and made a specialty of photograph frames. This example in the Louis XVI taste is one of Nevalainen’s most impressive; it is notable for its size, the precision of the guilloché ground, the brilliant shade of blue enamel and the refinement of its decorative vocabulary. Photo by Judy Cooper
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