an important fabergé gold, gilded silver and translucent enamel table cigarette box, workmaster henrik wigström, st. petersburg, 1908-17

the top, base and sides of the large rectangular box enameled with translucent dark blue and yellow stripes, the racing colors of Leopold de Rothschild, the borders of the cover chased with leaves and dots, the base with plain polished border, marked with initials of workmaster, Fabergé in Cyrillic, 56 standard and 88 standard.

Sold, Christie's, Geneva, November 20, 1973, lot 351

According to H.C. Bainbridge, who managed the Fabergé shop in London, the idea to use this colour scheme was the result of numerous requests, made each year just before Newmarket, Ascot and Derby time, for suitable gifts for Leopold de Rothschild. When the first shipment of items enameled in these colors arrived at the London shop from St. Petersburg, Bainbridge was exceedingly pleased and excited. He relates that “I ran straight off to New Court and showed them to Mr. Leopold, who said, `Splendid! I will take the lot.’ From this time, with the exception of Mr. James de Rothschild, no one else had a look in. Whenever he wanted to say `Good morning!’ `I like you!’ or `Don’t bother me any more!’ he simply slipped a dark blue and yellow Fabergé object into his friend’s pocket.” See, H. C. Bainbridge, Peter Carl Fabergé, Goldsmith and Jeweller to the Russian Imperial Court, London, 1949, p.83.

Leopold de Rothschild (1845-1917) was the third son of Baron Lionel de Rothschild MP, and great grandson of Mayer Amschel Rothschild. He purchased Ascott in Buckinghamshire in 1876 in order to turn it into a hunting box and during the following years the house was enlarged and transformed into a family home. Mary Gladstone, daughter of the Prime Minister, William Gladstone, described Ascott as “the most luxurious and lovely thing I ever saw.”

Numerous small objets de luxe were produced by Fabergé in these Rothschild racing colors and the drawings of many of them from the Wigström workshop are reproduced by Ulla Tillander-Godenhielm et al, Golden Years of Fabergé, Drawings and Objects from the Wigström Workshop, New York, 2000.

This table cigarette case presently offered is an outstanding example of the group, as it is one of the largest, and most important of all the items produced in the racing colors of Leopold de Rothschild.

The style of this box can be compared with lot 39 in this collection, the presentation clock, enameled in the blue and red racing colors of King Edward VII, and also with the well-known gold and enamel photograph frame containing a photograph of Edward VII’s most successful racehorse, Persimmon, which is preserved in the Royal Collection, see, Caroline de Guitaut, Fabergé in the Royal Collection, London, 2003, no.224.