Jewelled Gold-Mounted Silver-Gilt and Enamel Pill Box by Fabergé

workmaster Mikhail Perkhin, St Petersburg, 1899-1903 struck with workmaster’s initials, FABERGÉ in Cyrillic, assay master’s initials (Ya.L. in Cyrillic for Yakov Lyapunov), silver mark of 84 zolotniks, scratched with Fabergé inventory no. 2871 diameter: 5 cm

Provenance:

Dame Nelly Melba, Opera singer and thence by descent

A silver-gilt pill box of circular form, overall decorated with translucent white enamel over a guilloché ground, the lid applied with a jewelled pansy composed of three old-cut diamonds, one emerald and two rubies set in a gold mount, the thumbpiece set with a single cabochon ruby and two small rose-cut diamonds, the base centred with a red enamel star.