A study of a Sea Lion by Carl Fabergé,

carved from obsidian, a form of volcanic glass, mimicking
the animal's hide and seated on a rock crystal plinth
representing a ice flow.

11.5 c.m. x 13.3 c.m. x 10.3 c.m.

The above study is
the largest of its type known to exist.

An original black and white Fabergé photograph of
the Sea Lion is in the archive of the Fersman
Mineralogical Museum Moscow.

Fabergé s lapidaries took especial care in choosing stones for their animal carvings. Taking
advantage of Russia’s immense mineral wealth and choosing only stones found in Russia,
they picked materials that mimicked the natural markings and colourings of the animals . The
sea lion is carved from obsidian, a Russian volcanic glass. Its shimmering silver-grey surface
gives it the appearance of the seal’s wet skin. It is placed on a block of fractured rock
crystal perfectly representing an ice floe. 

The records of the Imperial family’s purchases from Fabergé show the Tsar and Tsarina jointly
purchased a sea lion sitting on a ‘rock crystal berg’ on 24th December 1902 for 289 roubles.
Carl Fabergé’s aide Franz Birbaum reflected in his memoirs that this combination of
obsidian and rock crystal was one of Fabergé’s most successful uses of hardstone.

Exhibited:

Fabergé-Cartier'
at the Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung,
Munich, 2004, number 3354.

The original Fabergé photograph of the Sea Lion from the Fersman Mineralogical Museum