OCTAGONAL BOX
Quatre-couleur gold, diamond, agate
H. 1⅛ inches • W. 1⅛ inches • D. 1⅛ inch
 
WORKMASTER: Mikhail Evlampievich Perchin

DATE: Prior to 1899

PLACE: St. Petersburg
 
MARKS OR SIGNATURES: On the interior flange: 56, crossed anchors and vertical scepter, in an elliptical punch; FABERGÉ, in Cyrillic, in an oblong punch; M.P., in Cyrillic, in a rectangular punch. On the base, in sgraffito: 45205.
 
This superb small box was fabricated by Fabergé’s second chief workmaster, Mikhail Perchin (Russian, 1860–1903), one of the few native goldsmiths and jewelers to achieve renown among Fabergé’s artisans.
 
The base of the box bears a lightly incised inventory numeral of 45205. The piece was purchased jointly by Czar Alexander III and Maria Feodorovna on December 22, 1892.
 
Although Perchin’s name is today often associated with his splendid creations in the Louis XVI manner, he was, in fact, eclectic in his choice of styles and was adept in the Renaissance, japoneseque, First Empire, and Louis XVI modes.
 
This diminutive box in the Louis XVI taste bears delicate highly chased quatre-couleur gold swagged floral garlands whose design and finish are testimony to Perchin’s facility with this eighteenth-century neoclassical court style. The lid is set with striated rose agate underlain by silver foil to enhance its color and is edged in rose-cut diamonds.
 
The final affect of the box, an understated opulence, is salient evidence of Perchin’s devotion to his craft and a fair indication of the high esteem in which he and his work were held by Peter Carl Fabergé. It is as well the kind of highly finished eighteenth-century inspired object by Perchin that today’s collector is delighted to acquire.
 
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