Nobel Ice

The Nobel Ice Egg, (phonetic: [nobél]) sometimes also referred to as the Snowflake egg, is a jewelled enamelled Fabergé Easter egg made under the supervision of the Russian jeweller Peter Carl Fabergé, for the Swedish-Russian oil baron and industrialist Emanuel Nobel between 1913 and 1914.

History

The egg was made between 1913 and 1914 for Emanuel Nobel, the Swedish-Russian oil Baron, son of Ludvig Nobel, and one of Fabergé's best customers. Franz Birbaum, Fabergé's head workmaster, recalls that Emanuel Nobel "was so generous in his presents that at times it seemed that this was his chief occupation and delight. Orders were constantly being made for him in the workshops and from time to time he came to have a look at them. Often he only decided for whom the present should be when the work was finished."

After the Russian Revolution, it was sold to the Parisian dealer A. A. Anatra, who subsequently sold it to Jacques Zolotnitzky, of A La Vieille Russie, in Paris. It was later sold to a North-American collector.

In 1994 it was sold at Christie's, in Geneva, for $220,000.

The Nobel Ice egg's current owner is Artie and Dorothy McFerrin of Houston and is being displayed at the Houston Museum of Natural Science.

References

• H.C. Bainbridge, Peter Carl Fabergé (London, 1949) p. 58
• Birbaum, Franz, Memoirs, in St. Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum, Fabergé: Imperial Jeweller (1993) p. 454)
• Habsburg-Lothringen, Geza von, and Solodkoff, Alexander von, Fabergé Joaillier à la Cour de Russie (Fribourg, 1979) pp. 108, 118, 158, pl.141, p. 120, cat.69
• Snowman, A. Kenneth, The Art of Carl Fabergé (London, 1964) p. 113, pl.387
• Solodkoff, Alexander von, 'History of the House of Fabergé', Masterpieces from the House of Fabergé (New York, 1984) p. 36
• Solodkoff, Alexander von, Fabergé (London, 1988) p. 47

External links

• Miek's Fabergé Eggs Retrieved on 2016-05-29
• Vivian Swift, Alma Pihl's Designs for Fabergé in Magazine Antiques (Jan 1996) Retrieved on 2009-04-28