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Related Links: Fabergé Eggs and Limoges Boxes
Most of you are probably familiar with the work of Peter Carl Fabergé,
the master goldsmith, and the creator of those fabulous bibelots called
Fabergé Eggs. You may even have seen them when, several years ago and
again quite recently, the Forbes Fabergé Collection toured the country.
They are breathtakingly beautiful and to see them from a distance of only
a few inches is an experience never to be forgotten. Fabergé was inspired
to a great degree by the work of the French porcelain artists in the late
18th and early 19th centuries, the makers of the original boxes, which
today are called Limoges boxes.
When I learned that DuBarry had made a Limoges box that they were calling
The Fabergé Egg, I was filled with skepticism. Try to duplicate a Fabergé
Egg? I didn't think so. Then DuBarry sent me a digital photograph of their
box. I was astounded. It was exquisite.
We have never before devoted an entire page to one porcelain box but
this box is so superb that to show it to it's full advantage required
several photographs.
The egg is made in three parts: the base which is seated in an elaborate
metal frame with exquisitely wrought acanthus leaf legs, inside of the
base, a porcelain holder with a beaded rim which, in turn, holds a red
cut glass flacon with an elaborate jeweled metal cap; each of the other
two sections of the egg are separately hinged to the base and open outwardly
allowing the perfume bottle to be displayed.
The inside of the box is washed in gold and, at a glance, one would
think that it is gold metal rather than porcelain, but in fact, it is
porcelain. The gold acts a reflector for the perfume flacon and the cranberry
coloring is magnificent against it. The exterior of the box has a ground
of emerald green with rosettes and leaves of cranberry touched with gold,
a very fine overlay of gold lines on the emerald ground make it appear
as enamel over a guilloché ground and inset into each rosette is a faceted
ruby stone. Bordering all of the metal work is a narrow band of deep blue
that sets the emerald and cranberry coloring off perfectly. The three
clasps are rosettes and from the crown clasp hangs a cranberry silk tassel.
The box is a signed, limited edition of only 500 pieces worldwide,
this piece being number 364. Retail: Upwards of $335.00. Our price: $301.90.
To find out more about ordering, Click
Here
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