A jewelled silver letter opener in the Old Russian taste
by Carl Fabergé,

its tapering blade decorated with a scene of country cottage with an
owl on its roof and a mushroom patch to the front, the foreground
mounted with cabochon rubies, the back decorated with
pan Slavic scroll motifs.

Moscow, 1908-1917.

18.7 cm long

Fabergé’s 'Old Russian' style depicts in silver and enamels a world peopled by characters
distilled from contemporary Russian art, architecture, theatre and design. The style was
heavily influenced by a renewed appreciation of Slavic folklore and history in early twentieth
century Russia and is also described as the ‘Pan-Slavic style ’. The pieces often featured Boyars,
medieval Paladins and heroes from Russian history. They predominately take traditional
Russian forms, such as bratinas, tcharkas and kovshi.

Fabergé’s silversmiths made the pieces by the ‘lost wax’ casting method. Whereby they were
cast from wax models sculpted by artists working in Fabergé’s design studio; the
models were destroyed in the casting and each piece is therefore unique.