PARASOL HANDLE
Smoky quartz, deux-couleur gold, enamel, cabochon ruby, steel
H. 2½ inches • Diam. at apex 1 inch • Diam. at base ⅝ inch
 
WORKMASTER: Mikhail Evlampievich Perchin

DATE: Probably prior to 1899

PLACE: St. Petersburg

MARKS OR SIGNATURES: On the upper yellow gold leaf-chased band: M.P., in Cyrillic, in a rectangular punch.

PROVENANCE: Sotheby’s, Zurich, sale, May 17, 1979, Lot 179, illustrated
Private collection, United States
Sotheby’s, London, sale, December 1, 2004, Lot 345, illustrated
 
This extremely refined parasol handle was produced by Fabergé’s second chief workmaster, Mikhail Perchin (Russian, 1860–1903) who succeeded Erik August Kollin (Finnish, 1836–1901) in that position in 1886.
 
Perchin would not have been responsible for the carving and engraving of the smoky quartz although his shop would have been charged with creating the deux-couleur gold and enamel basal mount set with six cabochon rubies and of fitting that mount with its interior steel screw. The Perchin atelier also would have set the cabochon ruby at the apex in its reeded gold bezel.
 
The flutes of the handle are delicately engraved with alternating lily-of-the-valley, forget-me-not and rose sprays, all of which had specific meanings in the well-developed nineteenth-century language of flowers. The lily-of-the-valley signified connubial bliss and happy relationships; the forget-me-not’s message was conveyed by its very name, and the rose was a symbol of pure and triumphant love. Taken together, these blossoms may indicate that the parasol handle was intended as a wedding or anniversary present. In any case, the piece is of the elevated technical and aesthetic levels one expects to see in the work of Mikhail Perchin.
 
At some point, this handle entered the stock of onetime Fabergé rival Cartier, for it is now in a custom-fitted red Morocco leather Cartier presentation case.
 
The steel mounting screw has been cut off above the threading, leaving only a cylindrical stub.
 
Please contact for price