Fabergé & Vertu: Property from the Brooklyn Museum, Sold to Support Museum Collections
Fabergé & Vertu: Property from the Brooklyn Museum, Sold to Support Museum Collections
Property from the Brooklyn Museum, sold to Support Museum Collections
A JEWELLED AVENTURINE MODEL OF A SQUIRREL, CARTIER, PARIS, EARLY 20TH CENTURY
Auction Closed
December 2, 11:54 AM GMT
Estimate
5,000 - 10,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Property from the Brooklyn Museum, sold to Support Museum Collections
A JEWELLED AVENTURINE MODEL OF A SQUIRREL, CARTIER, PARIS, EARLY 20TH CENTURY
Realistically carved in aventurine as a squirrel eating a nut, rose-cut diamond-set eyes, apparently unmarked
length 4.5cm, 1 ¾ in.
The Brooklyn Museum, New York, bequest from the above in 1983
New York, Brooklyn Museum of Art, BMA Fabergé Installation, supplementary to Jewels of the Romanovs: Treasures of the Russian Imperial Court, March 20 - July 12, 1998
For a similarly modelled agate model of a squirrel eating an acorn from the Lindemann Collection, please see G. von Habsburg, Fabergé Cartier, Rivalen am Zarenhof, Munich, 2003-2004, n. 662, p. 344. A further related example of a Cartier squirrel in agate, dated circa 1906 is included in O. Bachet and A. Cartier, Cartier, Exceptional Objects, Paris, 2009, p. 93.
As rivals for Imperial, Royal and wealthy patronage, the present squirrel is a notable example of the way in which Fabergé animals, flowers and desk accessories inspired Cartier objects. Having seen the success of Fabergé, Pierre Cartier made several trips to Russia in 1904 and 1905 to buy enamel and hardstone carvings and generate relationships with local workshops. Soon after, animal studies emulating those of Fabergé were created by the firm and a Cartier inventory from 1907 registered over 200 kinds of hardstone animals.