Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Mastery of Design: Queen Alexandra's Parasol Handle, 1896

Parasol Handle
Michael Perchin, pre-1896
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II



Made by one of Fabergé’s finest workmasters, Mikhail Evlampievich Perkhin (1860-1903) (also known as Michael Perchin), this parasol handle is constructed of chalcedony mounted with gold, enamel and brilliant-cut diamonds. It’s difficult to date Perkhin’s works sometimes. This one dates to sometime before 1896.

The handle takes the form of a parrot’s head. It has long since been removed from its use as a parasol handle, and, has since been mounted as a paperweight on a base of nephrite. The bird’s head is made of grey chalcedony and his eyes are yellow brilliant-cut diamonds mounted and black enamel and gold. He wears a collar of two bands of green guilloché enamel and one of diamonds.

This once graced one of the parasols of Queen Alexandra, Consort of King Edward VII.  

No comments: