id: 142748 accession number: 1966.454 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1966.454 updated: 2023-03-20 14:14:20.135000 Miniature Chair, 1896–1906. House of Fabergé (Russian, 1842–1918). Gold, silver gilt, enamel, rubies, diamonds; overall: 10.5 x 5.3 x 4.8 cm (4 1/8 x 2 1/16 x 1 7/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, The India Early Minshall Collection 1966.454 title: Miniature Chair title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1896–1906 creation date earliest: 1896 creation date latest: 1906 current location: 211 Fabergé creditline: The India Early Minshall Collection copyright: --- culture: Russia, St. Petersburg, late 19th-early 20th Century technique: gold, silver gilt, enamel, rubies, diamonds department: Decorative Art and Design collection: Decorative Arts type: Miscellaneous find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * House of Fabergé (Russian, 1842–1918) - maker Peter Carl Faberge (1846-1920) took over the House of Faberge in 1870 from his father Carl Gustav Faberge who had founded the firm in 1842. Until 1881, the firm manufactured primarily jewelry for Saint Petersburg's aristocrats and wealthy elite. In 1885 the firm was awarded the coveted imperial warrant as goldsmith to the tsar and began to produce elaborate presentation Easter eggs as a gift for the tsarina from her husband every year. They also produced luxurious accessories, jewelry, and hardstone sculptures. At one point, Faberge employed over 300 workers including 22 workmasters who oversaw the production of the firm's jewelry and precious objects. A branch of the firm opened in Moscow in 1887, specializing in neo-Russian and pan-Slavic motifs in jewelry, silver, and enamel. Other branches followed in Kiev, London, and Odessa as well as new premises in Saint Petersburg. At the onset of the Russian Revolution, Peter Carl Faberge fled the country to Paris then Switzerland, where he died in 1920. His firm was nationalized by the Bolsheviks in 1918. --- measurements: Overall: 10.5 x 5.3 x 4.8 cm (4 1/8 x 2 1/16 x 1 7/8 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: 56, Kokoshnik; tester's initials in Cyrillic; 84, Kokoshnik, tester's initials in Cyrillic; К.ФАБЕРЖЕ [C. Fabergé]; Kokoshnik; double-headed eagle; К.Ф. [C.F.]; 25196 scratched. translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: The India Early Minshall Collection: Faberge and his Contemporaries opening date: 1967-03-15T05:00:00 The India Early Minshall Collection: Faberge and his Contemporaries. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 15, 1967-January 21, 1968). title: Year in Review: 1967 opening date: 1967-11-29T05:00:00 Year in Review: 1967. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 29-December 31, 1967). title: Faberge 1846 - 1920 opening date: 1977-06-23T04:00:00 Faberge 1846 - 1920. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (organizer) (June 23-October 23, 1977). title: Fabergé in America opening date: 1996-02-12T00:00:00 Fabergé in America. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (February 12-May 5, 1996); Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (organizer) (May 25-July 28, 1996); Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (August 24-November 2, 1996); New Orleans Museum of Art (December 7, 1996-February 8, 1997); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 12-May 11, 1997). title: Artistic Luxury: Fabergé Tiffany Lalique opening date: 2008-10-19T04:00:00 Artistic Luxury: Fabergé Tiffany Lalique . The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 19, 2008-January 18, 2009); Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA (February 7-May 31, 2009). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE India Early Minshall [1885–1965], Cleveland, OH, bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art date: ?- footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1966- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: This miniature chair has a clever mechanism that allows the seat cushion to slide forward and upward slightly so that it can be opened to reveal a compartment, probably used to hold stamps on a desk. digital description: The giving of small precious objects as intimate gifts between family members within the imperial court was spurred by the House of Fabergé's seemingly endless supply of bejeweled utilitarian objects decorated as expensively as possible, such as this stamp holder disguised as an exquisite miniature chair in the Louis XVI taste of the late 1700s. wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Hawley, Henry H. Fabergé and His Contemporaries: The India Early Minshall Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1967. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 114-5, cat. 54. url: https://ingallslibrary.on.worldcat.org/oclc/836254532 Habsburg, Géza von, and David Park Curry. Fabergé in America. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1996. page number: Mentioned: p. 30; p. 42, cat. 15; reproduced: p. 42. url: https://ingallslibrary.on.worldcat.org/oclc/34433639 Hawley, Henry H., "Some Faberge Sources", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 37 no. 04, April 1997 page number: Mentioned and reproduced: p. 7 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAMM1997-04/page/6 Tillander-Godenhielm, Ulla. Golden Years of Fabergé: Drawings and Objects from the Wigström Workshop. [Place of publication not identified]: A La Vieille Russie, 2000. page number: Reproduced: p. 99. url: https://ingallslibrary.on.worldcat.org/oclc/43979547 Tillander-Godenhielm, Ulla, and Peter Carl Fabergé. Fabergé: ja hänen suomalaiset mestarinsa. Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Tammi, 2008. page number: Mentioned: p. 50. url: https://ingallslibrary.on.worldcat.org/oclc/317629230 Harrison, Stephen, Emmanuel Ducamp, and Jeannine J. Falino. Artistic Luxury: Fabergé Tiffany Lalique. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in association with New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: p. 199, cat. 75. url: https://ingallslibrary.on.worldcat.org/oclc/230187932 --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1966.454/1966.454_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1966.454/1966.454_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1966.454/1966.454_full.tif