An Imperial Fabergé jewel commemorating the
Tercentenary of Romanov rule,

of circular form centred by a chased monomach crown set with rubies and
green demantoid garnets, in an openwork triangular frame surmounted by the
dates 1613-1913, with filigree scrollwork beneath and three blue
sapphires set around the circumference.

Workmaster: Albert Holmström,
St. Petersburg, 1913,
inventory number 4594.

Diameter 2.9 cm

Provenance:

Entered into the Imperial Cabinet's Ledger in 1913
at a cost of fifty roubles.

Presented to Baroness Baroness von Buxhoeveden,
(with thanks to Timothy Boettger for his assistance in identifying the recipient )

The jewels commemorates the tercentenary of Romanov rule; which began in 1613
when Tsar Mikhail Feodorovitch Romanov assumed the throne and saved Russia from the
internecine conflicts following the death of Tsar Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible). The celebrations
began with a twenty-one-gun salute fired from the Fortress of St Peter and Paul in St. Petersburg
on the morning of 21st February 1913. They continued through to 27th May 1913 and involved
a full schedule of Imperial receptions, banquets pilgrimages and masses. According to Bainbridge
manager of Faberge's London business Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna designed the jewels to
be given as presentation gifts during the celebrations. The task of translating the Tsarina's ideas
into actual working designs for the craftsmen fell to Alma Phil, niece of August Holmström. She
found the the crown difficult to successfully incorporate into the jewels and recalled becoming
'fed up with having to integrate that fur hat into my designs'. Pihl's designs survive in the
one of the two extant design albums from Holmström workshop; see below and for further
designs Faberge: Lost & Found, A. Kenneth Snowman (London, 1993), pages 136-137.
For a discussion of the tercentenary jewels and Pihl's role in their production see The
Russian Imperial Award System 1894-1917, by Ulla Tillander-Godenhielm,
(Helsinki, 2005), pages 194 & 195.

A similar brooch set with aquamarines is in the collection of the Hillwood Museum, Washington, D.C.
Another of a slightly different design from an English private collection was exhibited in Fabergé
and the Russian Jewellers, Wartski, London, 2006, number 146.

A design for a tercentenary brooch from the Holmström design album,
dated 24th February 1914.