of rectangular form, the sides and hinged lid mounted with panels of Siberian jade, its two coloured gold frame chased with yellow gold leaves against a red gold ground, the corners fixed with gold cubes faced with chased flower heads, stood on four gadrooned gold bun feet, the base panel silver gilt
Chief Workmaster: Michael Perchin, St. Petersburg, circa 1900
Provenance
Purchased by the Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias, Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna on 8th February 1900 for four hundred and twenty-five roubles.
Fabergé used six different types of nephrite taken from boulders found alongside the river Onot in Siberia. Franz Birbaum, Fabergé’s workshop manager recalled that the finest dark green nephrite, as used in this box ‘when cut into thin sheets becomes translucent and acquires a wonderful dense green colour’.
10.2 cm by 6.5 cm by 5.1 cm