Gold-Mounted Nephrite Letter Holder by Fabergé

workmaster Mikhail Perkhin, St Petersburg, 1899-1903 struck with workmaster’s initials, FABERGÉ in Cyrillic, gold mark of 56 zolotniks, scratched with Fabergé inventory no. 3239 height: 7.6 cm

Provenance: A la Vieille Russie, New York Forbes Collection

Exhibitions:

Fabergé in America, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 16 February - 28 April 1996, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 25 May - 28 July 1996, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 24 August - 3 November 1996, New Orleans Museum of Art, 7 December 1996 - 9 February 1997, Cleveland Museum of Art, 12 March - 11 May 1997, no. 289

Literature:

Forbes Magazine, 1 May 1977, illustrated in colour p. 102

Ch. Forbes, H. Waterfield, Fabergé Imperial Eggs and Other Fantasies, New York, 1978, no. 106, pp. 86-87, 130, 135, illustrated in colour p. 87

M. Amayo, The Forbes Magazine Collection // Connoisseur, vol. 203, no. 818, April 1980, illustrated p. 287

A. Hess, Forbes’ Fabulous Fabergé // Saturday Review, August 1980, illustrated p. 45

J. Price, Executive Style, New York, 1980, illustrated p. 169

A. von Solodkoff, Masterpieces from the House of Fabergé, New York, 1984, p. 176, illustrated pp. 6, 176

S. Jacobson, Only the Best, New York, 1985, illustrated p. 50

G. von Habsburg (ed.), Fabergé in America, San Francisco, 1996, no. 289, illustrated p. 269

Ch. Forbes, R. Tromeur-Brenner, Fabergé: The Forbes Collection, 1999, p. 207, illustrated p. 206

A rectangular nephrite letter holder mounted en cage with a continuous twocolour gold rim chased with laurel leaf tips and set with flowerheads at the corners, resting on four bun feet.