Gold, Silver-Gilt and Enamel Square Desk Clock by Fabergé

workmaster Mikhail Perkhin, St Petersburg, 1899-1903 struck with workmaster’s initials and Fabergé in Cyrillic, gold mark of 56 zolotniks and silver mark of 88 zolotniks, scratched with Fabergé inventory no. 18153 height: 10.5 cm

Provenance: Farouk I, King of Egypt (1936-1965) until 1952

Rare and unusual gold and silver-gilt square desk clock enamelled in translucent pale blue over a guilloché ground and applied with gold foliate scrolls and four rosettes; further within a white guilloché enamel frame painted with interlaced green laurel garland and red ribbon; the white enamel dial with black Arabic numerals with gold openwork hands and a pearl bezel.

The clock comes from the collection of Farouk I, King of Egypt (1936-1965), one of the twentieth century’s most prolific Fabergé collectors. It was part of his extensive collection and among the pieces seized by Nasser’s Republican government and subsequently sold in March 1954 in Cairo.