Property from a Private UK Collection
A Fabergé jewelled, varicoloured gold and guilloché enamel miniature photograph frame, workmaster Victor Aarne, St Petersburg, circa 1900
Auction Closed
November 26, 05:37 PM GMT
Estimate
35,000 - 45,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
of arch-shaped form, enamelled aquamarine, applied with varicoloured gold and diamond-set floral garlands, the oval aperture with a diamond-set border, with mother of pearl back and silver gilt strut, in its original fitted case, struck with workmaster's initials and Fabergé in Cyrillic, 56 and 88 standard, later scratched inventory number 7572
height 4.3cm; 1 5/8 in.
The Collection of Marjorie Merriweather Post
Thence by descent
Sotheby's New York, 2009, lot 290
A philanthropist and businesswoman, Marjorie Merriweather Post was known during her lifetime as one of the richest women in America. Upon the death of her father, Charles William Post, owner of General Foods Corporation and Postum Cereal Company, the young Marjorie inherited a fortune of around $20 million. Post directed a large proportion of this wealth towards her philanthropic causes, such as a hospital in France for US soldiers fighting in the First World War (for which she was granted the Légion d'Honneur by the French government), the Boy Scouts of America, the Red Cross, Salvation Army and the National Cultural Center in Washington (later renamed as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts).
Post did, however, keep a portion of her wealth for herself, which she spent accumulating an astounding collection of jewellery and art, with a particular focus on Imperial Russian art. Post bought Hillwood, her estate in Washington D.C., in 1955. Shortly thereafter, she transformed the house into a museum for her art collection which included not just masterpieces of Russian art, but also a vast array of 18th-century French decorative art, to which she had been introduced by British art dealer Sir Joseph Duveen. In the 1920s, partly influenced by her husband Edward F. Hutton, Post's tastes veered towards luxury items, including gold boxes, jewellery, and the most luxurious items of all: Fabergé. Having divorced Hutton, and remarried in the 1930s to Joseph E. Davies, US ambassador to Soviet Russia, Post's interests in Russian art deepened. During the 1930s, she accompanied her husband on trips to the USSR, during which she would add to her collection.
You May Also Like
