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拍品專文
Full-size furniture by Fabergé is extremely rare on the market, which makes the two remarkable tables presented in this auction particularly noteworthy (see also lot 38). This elegant nephrite gueridon table, adorned with beautifully chased silver caryatids, is the only known example of full-size Fabergé furniture that does not incorporate wood.
This table was commissioned in 1915 by Emanuel Nobel, one of Fabergé’s most prominent and affluent patrons. The commission was of such significance that Hjalmar Armfelt, the Fabergé’s workmaster responsible for this work, created a detailed drawing of it after returning to Finland following the Russian Revolution of 1917.
Still a young man at the time, Armfelt was deeply affected by the upheaval and the loss of his workshop and career at Fabergé, and at some point he produced drawings of his most important creations, including the present lot. These extraordinary drawings were discovered at the Goldsmiths’ Association of Finland last year and are part of their archives.
The drawing of this gueridon table is inscribed by Armfelt ‘Half natural size / Nephrite and silver table / Made by order of Emanuel Nobel in 1915’. The drawings were done from memory, which accounts for slight discrepancies, such as the positioning of the laurel wreaths, when compared to the actual piece.
The finely carved nephrite top rests on elaborately chased silver legs in the form of winged caryatids, ending in paw feet. Created from designs by Franz Birbaum, Fabergé’s chief designer, the table clearly draws inspiration from the Empire style. Birbaum confirms in his memoirs that this table was as a special commission from Emanuel Nobel:
‘Among the most noteworthy of his numerous orders is a large mantel-clock in a stone reproduction of a temple of fire-worshippers. [..] Finally, a large vase in rhodonite, supported by two figures of 'stolniki' (Tsar's butlers) in costumes of the period of Alexei Mikhailovich, and a round table in nephrite with silver caryatids in Empire style were executed after my sketches’ (see Exhibition catalogue, Carl Fabergé, Goldsmith to the Tsar, Stockholm, 1977, p. 59).
EMANUEL NOBEL (1859-1932)
Emanuel Nobel was the nephew of Alfred Nobel, the renowned Swedish inventor and founder of the Nobel Prize. The Nobel Brothers Petroleum Production Company, founded by Emanuel’s father in Baku in 1879, emerged as one of the largest oil producers of its era. Following his father’s death in 1888, Emanuel assumed control of the family business. By 1917, just six months prior to the October Revolution, the company was reporting record profits, employing some 50,000 workers, and supplying approximately one-third of Russia’s domestic oil production.
After the Bolshevik expropriation of the family's properties in 1917, Nobel relocated to Sweden, gradually withdrawing from active business, and passed away there in 1932.
According to Birbaum, ‘Emmanuel Nobel, one of the kings of oil, was so generous in his presents that at times it seemed that this was his chief occupation and delight. Orders were constantly being made for him in the [Fabergé] workshops and from time to time he came to have a look at them. Often, he only decided for whom the present should be when the work was finished.’ (quoted in Birbaum's Memoirs, in G. von Habsburg and M. Lopato, Fabergé: Imperial Jeweller, London, 1993, p. 454).
Henry Bainbridge, the manager of the London Fabergé shop, also wrote about Emanuel Nobel: 'He was a man for whom the jubilees and anniversaries of his directors and staff meant nothing if not suitably commemorated by some objects from Fabergé' (H.C. Bainbridge, Peter Carl Fabergé, London, 1949, p. 58).
We are grateful to Ulla Tillander-Godenhielm for her assistance with the research of the present lot.
This table was commissioned in 1915 by Emanuel Nobel, one of Fabergé’s most prominent and affluent patrons. The commission was of such significance that Hjalmar Armfelt, the Fabergé’s workmaster responsible for this work, created a detailed drawing of it after returning to Finland following the Russian Revolution of 1917.
Still a young man at the time, Armfelt was deeply affected by the upheaval and the loss of his workshop and career at Fabergé, and at some point he produced drawings of his most important creations, including the present lot. These extraordinary drawings were discovered at the Goldsmiths’ Association of Finland last year and are part of their archives.
The drawing of this gueridon table is inscribed by Armfelt ‘Half natural size / Nephrite and silver table / Made by order of Emanuel Nobel in 1915’. The drawings were done from memory, which accounts for slight discrepancies, such as the positioning of the laurel wreaths, when compared to the actual piece.
The finely carved nephrite top rests on elaborately chased silver legs in the form of winged caryatids, ending in paw feet. Created from designs by Franz Birbaum, Fabergé’s chief designer, the table clearly draws inspiration from the Empire style. Birbaum confirms in his memoirs that this table was as a special commission from Emanuel Nobel:
‘Among the most noteworthy of his numerous orders is a large mantel-clock in a stone reproduction of a temple of fire-worshippers. [..] Finally, a large vase in rhodonite, supported by two figures of 'stolniki' (Tsar's butlers) in costumes of the period of Alexei Mikhailovich, and a round table in nephrite with silver caryatids in Empire style were executed after my sketches’ (see Exhibition catalogue, Carl Fabergé, Goldsmith to the Tsar, Stockholm, 1977, p. 59).
EMANUEL NOBEL (1859-1932)
Emanuel Nobel was the nephew of Alfred Nobel, the renowned Swedish inventor and founder of the Nobel Prize. The Nobel Brothers Petroleum Production Company, founded by Emanuel’s father in Baku in 1879, emerged as one of the largest oil producers of its era. Following his father’s death in 1888, Emanuel assumed control of the family business. By 1917, just six months prior to the October Revolution, the company was reporting record profits, employing some 50,000 workers, and supplying approximately one-third of Russia’s domestic oil production.
After the Bolshevik expropriation of the family's properties in 1917, Nobel relocated to Sweden, gradually withdrawing from active business, and passed away there in 1932.
According to Birbaum, ‘Emmanuel Nobel, one of the kings of oil, was so generous in his presents that at times it seemed that this was his chief occupation and delight. Orders were constantly being made for him in the [Fabergé] workshops and from time to time he came to have a look at them. Often, he only decided for whom the present should be when the work was finished.’ (quoted in Birbaum's Memoirs, in G. von Habsburg and M. Lopato, Fabergé: Imperial Jeweller, London, 1993, p. 454).
Henry Bainbridge, the manager of the London Fabergé shop, also wrote about Emanuel Nobel: 'He was a man for whom the jubilees and anniversaries of his directors and staff meant nothing if not suitably commemorated by some objects from Fabergé' (H.C. Bainbridge, Peter Carl Fabergé, London, 1949, p. 58).
We are grateful to Ulla Tillander-Godenhielm for her assistance with the research of the present lot.