An enamelled gold and nephrite box mounted
with a moss agate panel by Carl Fabergé,
the rectangular body carved froom a singe piece of Siberian Jade with canted corners, the hinged yellow gold
mount mounted
with chased green gold laurel leaves against a red gold ground and enamelled with translucent red berries bound by
opaque white enamel ties, topped by moss agate panel with red striations in a frame of gold bell flowers
and white enamel berries
Chief Workmaster: Henrik Wigstrom,
St. Petersburg, 1908-1917,
inventory number 21438.
8.5cm by 3.6cm by 2.5cm.
Fabergé was especially taken by the patterns which naturally occur within moss-agates.
He knew the stone as Orskaia Jasper and his workshop manager Franz Birbaum wrote of it:
'Thickets of tress, cliffs, valleys .. and the most varied and unexpected motifs unfold
before one's astonished eyes. Orskaia jasper was mainly used in thin sheets. When a
large block was cut into slabs, they were carefully examined by the artist, who
chose the most interesting motifs and decided how the stone should be further cut'


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