LADY’S COMPACT
14-karat yellow and green gold, enamel
H. 2½ inches • W. 1¾ inches • D. ⅜ inch
 
WORKMASTER: Henrik Immanuel Wigström

DATE: 1908–17

PLACE: St. Petersburg
 
MARKS OR SIGNATURES: On the exterior leaf, left: 56, kokoshnik head facing right with Greek letter alpha, all in an elliptical punch; H.W. in an oval punch; FABERGÉ in Cyrillic, in an oblong punch; inventory number 19368, in sgraffito. On the interior mirror frame/powder well cover: H.W., in an oval punch; kokoshnik head facing right, in a circular punch. On the interior leaf, right: kokoshnik head facing right with Greek letter alpha, 56, all in an elliptical punch; H.W. in an oval punch.
 
PROVENANCE: Mary, Duchess of Roxburghe, 1909/1910
By descent
 
REFERENCES: Habsburg, Geza von et alia, Fabergé in America, Thames and Hudson, New York, 1996, 352.
 
The elegant pin-striped white enamel and gold compact was purchased by the American-born Duchess of Roxburghe, Mary Wilson Goelet (1879–1937) at the Fabergé London branch in the second half of December 1909 or early January 1910 for the price of 32 pounds, five shillings. It was listed in the Fabergé ledger as a “Powder Puff, flat.”
 
Mary Goelet, called May, was a socially prominent New York City real estate heiress whose parents’ acquaintances included Edward, Prince of Wales, and the Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich of Russia. May was a bridesmaid at the wedding of Consuelo Vanderbilt to the Duke of Marlborough in 1895. In 1903, she was married in the same Fifth Avenue church to Henry John Innes-Ker (1876–1932), eighth Duke of Roxburghe. In London, the young duchess became a celebrated hostess and was a friend of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra and of the succeeding monarch George V and Queen Mary.
 
Such rather tailored accessories marked the later Belle Époque trend away from such historicizing revival styles as Louis XV, Louis XVI and First Empire. These were replaced by simpler forms bearing delicate repeated geometric or striped decoration. The foliate green gold sleeves at the base of the bell-form ring of this compact are a sophisticated, subtle and elegant feature.
 
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