Skip to main content

This auction has ended. View lot details

You may also be interested in

Lot 106*

A grey agate figure of a mouse set with silver-mounted diamonds
Fabergé, circa 1900, scratched inventory number 4192

5 June 2019, 15:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £175,062.50 inc. premium

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

Looking for a similar item?

Our Russian Paintings and Works of Art specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.

Find your local specialist

Ask about this lot

A grey agate figure of a mouse set with silver-mounted diamonds

Fabergé, circa 1900, scratched inventory number 4192
The finely carved body simulating fur, with diamond-set ears, eyes and curling tail
length: 6cm (2 3/8in).

Footnotes

Provenance
Sir Bernard Eckstein, Sotheby's, 8 February 1949, lot 138
Caroline, Lady Oppenheimer (1899-1971)
Then by direct descent

The Royal Collection boasts eight mice and rats, many of which are set with diamond encrusted features. It is certain that Fabergé's sculptors would have seen such creatures during their time at Sandringham and been familiar with netsuke prototypes. They were highly appreciated as symbols of perseverance and prosperity due to their ability to survive adverse circumstances.

For similar examples see de Guitaut Fabergé's Animals: A Royal Farm in Miniature, Royal Collection, London, 2010, pp. 111-112, or visit the Royal Collection website www.rct.uk for RCIN 40013 and RCIN 40045. For another variant, see von Habsburg, Fabergé, Munich, 1987, cat. 367, p. 205.

Additional information

Bid now on these items

ICÔNE REPRÉSENTANT LA DÉISIS AVEC LES SAINTS ZOSIME ET SAVVATI Russie, première moitié du XIXe siècle