An Imperial silver-gilt and cloisonné enamel triptych icon, Khlebnikov, Moscow, 1886

formed as a cusped ogee arch between two stylised columns, enamelled in pan-Slavic taste with turquoise, blue, white and red trellis between scrolling leaf and flowerhead borders, the interior panels enamelled en plein with Saint Nicholas the Miracleworker flanked by Saint Alexander Nevsky and Saint Mary Magdalene, the reverse engraved with presentation inscription 'To His Imperial Highness the Tsarevich/ Nicholas Alexandrovich/ from the Moscow Bourgeois Society/ May 1886', 88 standard

Presented to the Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich, later Emperor Nicholas II, in 1886

Illustrated, G. von Habsburg, Fabergé: Imperial Craftsman and His World, 2000, no. 57, p. 71.

Excellent condition. A very few extremely minor enamel losses and tiny areas of cracking. The gilding of the reverse slightly worn, although not to the silver.
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Although the precise date in May 1886 is not noted in the presentation inscription, it is likely that the icon was given to the Tsarevich on - or in celebration of - his eighteenth birthday on 18/6 May, given that the form follows that of a traditional 'birth icon' with the patron saint of the recipient depicted on the central panel and those of the parents on the wings.  The Tsarevich spent much of that month in Moscow, attending parties and functions. 

For a very similar example, also by Khlebnikov, presented to Emperor Alexander III and Empress Maria Feodorovna in honour of their coronation in 1883 by the nobility of the Vladimir region and now in the Hermitage, please see T. S. Kharinkina (ed.), Imperator Aleksandr III, Imperatritsa Maria Feodorovna, St. Petersburg, 2006, cat. no. 871, p. 127, illustrated.