A Fabergé gem-set, gold, & guilloché enamel photograph frame, workmaster Johan Viktor Aarne, Saint Petersburg, circa 1899-1904, with original Fabergé scratched inventory number 7572. The arch-shapedframe on bracket feet enameled in pale translucent green over an engine-turned ground, the oval aperture with diamond-set bezel, the front applied with diamond-set three-color gold chased floral swags & festoons.The shell back set with hinged scrolling silver gilt strut. Contained in its original Fabergé silk- & velvet-lined holly wood box. Height: 1 ¾in. (4.4 cm).
Provenance:
Collection of Marjorie Merriweather Post (1887-1973)
Thence by descent
Such exquisite small frames were often exchanged as gifts among the royal families of Europe. Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia gave a similar frame by Aarne to her younger sister, Princess Thyra of Denmark (see Sotheby’s, London, November 24, 2008, lot 19). A nearly identical small frame by Aarne in the British Royal Collection (RCIN 40227, see Caroline de Guitaut, Fabergé in the Royal Collection, London, 2003, cat. no. 198, p. 163) was a gift to the Princess of Wales (later Queen Mary) from the Prince of Wales (later King George V).