1899–1908
Russian
Decorative Arts
Frames
Metalwork
silver, enamel, plastic, glass
Russia,Moscow
Overall: 7 5/8 × 7 × 7/8 in. (19.37 × 17.78 × 2.22 cm)
47.20.355
This silver frame is the first Fabergé object acquired by Lillian Pratt. The crowned signatures (in Russian Cyrillic letters) of those pictured, Tsar Nicholas II’s aunt and uncle, appear to the sides of this original photograph. The frame’s top edge is surmounted by a crowned enamel coat of arms of the city of Moscow. The dates (1891–1904) engraved below the photograph refer to the fourteenth anniversary of Sergei’s governorship of Moscow. The staunchly conservative Grand Duke Sergei was assassinated by a revolutionist in 1905. After his death, Elizabeth Feodorovna took holy vows and founded a convent dedicated to helping Moscow’s poor and needy. The grand duchess, who was also the sister of the tsar’s wife, was executed by the Bolsheviks in 1918 on the same day that the imperial family suffered a similar fate.
Initials K.F., assay mark of Moscow 1899-1908, 84 zolotnik
Dates 1891-1904 bottom of frame. Crowned cyrillic signatures 'Sergi' and 'Elisaveta' at either side
Bequest of Lillian Thomas Pratt
Fabergé Revealed, Palace Museum, Beijing, China, April 16 - July 17, 2016

Fabergé: Jeweler to the Tsars, Oklahoma City Museum of Art, June 20 – September 27, 2015

Fabergé Revealed, Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art, Las Vegas, Nevada, November 14, 2014 - May 25, 2015

Fabulous Fabergé, Jeweler to the Czars, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, June 14 - October 12, 2014

Fabergé Revealed, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, June 22 - September 29, 2013

Fabergé: The Rise and Fall, Detroit Institute of Art, October 14, 2012 - January 21, 2013

Lillian Thomas Pratt Collection of Fabergé, coinciding with Fabergé in America, Metropolitan Museum of Art, February 12 - April 18, 1996, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, May 25 - July 28, 1996, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, August 24 - November 10, 1996, New Orleans Museum of Art, December 7, 1996 - February 8, 1997, Cleveland Museum of Art, March 12 - May 11, 1997

Collector of the Year, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, February 6 - March 13, 1983

Treasures from the Virginia Museum Featuring the Faberge Collection, North Carolina Museum of Art, April 21 - June 3, 1979

L&T 1933; NCMA 1979; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts 1983; FA 1996.

L&T 1933
Image released via Creative Commons CC-BY-NC

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