Lot 326: AN IMPERIAL FABERGÉ SILVER-GILT AND ENAMEL THERMOMETER, WORKMASTER VICTOR AARNE, ST PETERSBURG, LATE 19TH CENTURY

PROPERTY OF A LADY

height: 22.5cm, 8 7/8 in

rectangular, the central thermometer panel in Fahrenheit scale, framed in translucent orange enamel over undulating engine-turning and mounted with leaf and berry sprays within husk borders, surmounted with a ribbon-tied quiver and torch trophy, scrolling silver-gilt strut, wood back, in original Fabergé fitted case, 88 standard, scratched inventory number: 1007, stamped with workmaster's initials and Fabergé in Cyrillic, French import marks

PROVENANCE

Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna

NOTE

This thermometer was a joint purchase by the Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, their respective households each billed by Fabergé on 9 December 1898 for half the total purchase price of 105 roubles. This was not an uncommon practice; the invoices illustrated here list nine objects billed in this manner, in each case the quantity noted as "1/2". The Empress' bill is stamped paid by her secretary the following 15 February; the Emperor's inscribed by hand on 29 January "to pay". Another thermometer was also a joint purchase by the Imperial couple on 4 December 1901 (see Christie's New York, 23 October 2000, lot 106).

The vast majority of Fabergé thermometers are the work of Johan Victor Aarne (1863-1934), who was born in Tempere, Finland. The recent exhibition, The Era of Fabergé, at the Museum Centre Vapriikki in Tempere (17 June -- 1 October 2006), paid due consideration to the town's native son. He achieved the rank of journeyman in 1880 and moved to St. Petersburg, where he worked for Fabergé until 1890. He returned briefly to Tempere, where he attained the rank of master, before returning to St. Petersburg, where he worked exclusively for Fabergé from his premises at Demidov Lane 58, at the Ekaterininskii canal, until 1904. He employed mostly Finnish journeymen (see catalogue, p.111).

For other thermometers by Aarne, of both standing and wall-hung types, all incorporating neoclassical motifs, see Sotheby's Geneva, 14 May 1987, lots 321 and 425; Christie's Geneva, 27 June 1977, lot 458; Christie's Geneva, 11 May 1983; and G. von Habsburg, Fabergé: Imperial Craftsman and His World, London, 2000, no. 711, p. 276.

The present lot is unusual being in Fahrenheit scale; nearly all Fabergé thermometers were graded in Réaumur, very occasionally inscribed in Cyrillic (see Christie's Geneva, 17 November 1981, lot 117; for a thermometer incorporating Centigrade, see again Sotheby's Geneva, 14 May 1987, lot 321). At the time, Fahrenheit was used primarily in England, suggesting that the present lot may have been intended for the use of the Empress, who would have been familiar with it and may have preferred it, or else intended as a gift, possibly for the upcoming Christmas holiday, for an English relation.