
Natasha Patel
Specialist
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US$90,000 - US$120,000
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SVP; Head of Jewelry, US
This elegant cigarette case is among the finest of objects produced in 1910-1911 in the workshop of Henrik Wigstrom, the leading workmaster of the legendary firm of Carl Fabergé in St. Petersburg. Characterized by the fine stripes of white champleve enamel and often decorated with small monograms, classical symbols, pannier of flowers, laurel garlands and rosettes, they were executed with exceptional technical virtuosity. These cases were precisely the type of objects acquired by the Russian, European and American aristocrats, members of the high society, and wealthy bourgeoisie at the firm's elegant shops in St. Petersburg, Moscow and London. The present case was acquired by Charles Templeton Crocker, an American magnate, an heir to the railroad fortune, philanthropist and art patron. In 1911 he married an impeccably elegant Hélène Irwin, daughter of Hawaiian sugar baron William G. Irwin, and together they became one of the wealthiest families in America. The present cigarette case as well as the next cigarette case offered in this sale and decorated with Hélène Irwin Crocker's monogram, were acquired in 1911, three months after their wedding, and most likely on their honeymoon trip to Europe.
For similar cigarette cases see: upright case in the former collection of H.R.H. The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (sold at Christie's, 13 June 2006, lot 122) and a very similar cigarette case in the collection of the Beilin-Makagon Foundation (featured in 'Fabergé. Romance to Revolution', ed. Kieran McCarthy and Hanne Faurby, V&A Publishing, 2021, page 135, number 115)
Provenance
Acquired by Charles Templeton Crocker (1884-1948) from the London branch of Fabergé firm on 24 June, 1911 for 175 British pounds; Fabergé sale book of the London branch, page 249, described as: 'Cig. case, oval, gold 56, white opq. en; inlaid 2 chalcedonies, roses'; see photo of the entry page from the book.
Thence by descent