A silver-gilt and champlevé enamel salt throne, Andrei Bragin, St Petersburg, circa 1890

decorated with opaque and translucent enamel geometric motifs, inscribed in Russian: 'Eat bread and salt, speak the truth', 'With a piece of bread, it's heaven even under a pine tree' and 'Our great grandfathers ate simple food and lived well', the curved pierced back similarly decorated and centred with a cockerel in translucent green and red, the reverse engraved, struck to base and reverse with maker's initials, 88 standard, Soviet control marks

height 11 cm; 3 3/8 in.