A pair of framed Faberé designs for a desk set, circa 1900

one pencil and watercolour on tracing paper, the other pencil on paper variously inscribed with instructions in Cyrillic and costs

Watercolour: the sheet is slightly discoloured and the pigments have faded a little. Held in a gold painted wooden frame and under glass. Unexamined out of frame. Pencil drawing: there are losses to sheet top left and pinholes ot the corners. The paper is stained in places and discoloured. There are smudges to the pencil lines. Held in a gold painted plaster frame and under glass.
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It is very rare to find matched designs of this type which help illustrate the manufacture process in Fabergé's workshop.  The nephrite desk-set is outlined as a sketch which includes instructions and cost; the second design in watercolour gives a better impression of how the finished desk-set would have appeared.