EGG FROM EGG NECKLACE

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This empire-style gilded, reticulated basket with a blue band glazed to imitate lapis lazuli almost gives the appearance of a piece of Greek jewelry. It is from the "Service iconographique grec." The basket reveals the influence of Greek and Roman motifs and forms and how they defined the Empire style in France and Europe.

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Hillwood’s clock case, one of five known examples of similar design and function, was made in Paris around 1785. The earliest model (located in a private collection today) was purchased by the French Crown in 1784 from clockmaker Jean-Baptiste-André Furet (1720-1807) and was subsequently presented to the French royal family as a New Year’s gift for the Dauphin at the Tuileries Palace in 1792. His mother, Marie Antoinette, felt that it was too precious a gift for the young prince and would have spoiled him, and the clock was returned to the Garde Meuble. That same year, the clock was first described in the records of the Cabinet of Machines at the Louvre as Pendule dite La Négresse (Negress clock). The other three examples are conserved in the Royal Collection Trust, London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Palacio Real, Madrid. These pieces were not merely clocks, but also musical automaton— there were clock works in the head and a miniature organ in the base. Numerals in the eyes tell the time and earrings, when pulled, would activate the digits and start the music box playing.

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Artist
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PORTRAIT OF MARJORIE MERRIWEATHER POST

Cat no.: 51.140
Artist: Frank O. Salisbury
Date: 1934

EGG FROM EGG NECKLACE

Made by: Unknown

On view in: Icon Room

About this object

Miniature egg attached to necklace. Egg is made of green enamel with a design in silver. On one side is a spray of wheat in silver. On the other are the initials XB. There is a vertical silver band separating the two halves.

Category:: jewelry
Object name:: EGG FROM EGG NECKLACE
Made from:: Enamel -- silver
Made in:: Russia
Date made:: 1899-1908
Size:: 1.4 cm (9/16 in.)

Detailed information for this item

Catalog number:: 17.64.21
Class:: JEWELRY
Signature marks:: MARK 84, kokoshnik facing left for 1899-1908 [On loop] INSCRIPTION XB for Христос Воскресе (Christ is Risen) [On one side]
Credit line:: Gift of Dina Merrill Robertson, 1978
Featured in publication:: "Fabergé Rediscovered"

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EGG FROM EGG NECKLACE

EGG FROM EGG NECKLACE

About this object

Detailed information for this item

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