Online: Faberge Exhibition
- Russian (Saint Petersburg), 1896
Yellow and grenn gold, silver nephrite,
pearl rose-cut diamond
House of Faberge
Workmaster: August Wilhelp Homstrom
(Finnish, 1828-1903)
Inscribed (in Russian):
"To Her Imperial Majesty,
Czarina Alexandra Feodo....,
from the ironworks management
and dealers in the Siberian iron section
of the Nijergorodski Fair in the year 1896"
From the display notes:
This basket is considered the most important
Faberge piece in the United States and the highest
achievement of the workmaster August
Wilhelm Holmstrom. It consists of
nineteen individual stems decorated with
pearls and diamonds and was presented to
Czarina Alexandra Feodorovna (wife of
Czar Nicholas II) on the occasion of her
visit to the Pan-Russian Exhibition in 1896.
The czarina treasured it not only because of
the lily-of-the-valley was one of her
favorite flowers but also because,
in the language of flowers, it symbolizes
domestic happiness and conjugal bliss.