RUSSIAN IMPERIAL TREASURE
AN IMPORTANT FABERGE IMPERIAL CARVED HARDSTONE
PORTRAIT FIGURE OF KAMER-KAZAK N.N. PUSTYNNIKOV, THE
PERSONAL COSSACK BODYGUARD OF EMPRESS ALEXANDRA
FEODOROVNA, ST. PETERSBURG, DATED 1912
LOT 125: AN IMPORTANT FABERGÉ IMPERIAL CARVED HARDSTONE PORTRAIT FIGURE
OF KAMER-KAZAK N.N. PUSTYNNIKOV, THE
PERSONAL COSSACK BODYGUARD OF
EMPRESS ALEXANDRA FEODOROVNA, ST.
PETERSBURG, DATED 1912
depicted in an alert and attentive posture,
with studied gaze, the long nephrite coat
affixed with gold and multi-colored enameled orders and medals, and bordered with
brown Caucasian sardonyx, the gold edges
enameled with black Imperial eagles and
outlined with translucent red enamel, the
life-like face and hands carved of cachalong,
the eyes set with cabochon sapphires, the
hair and beard of grey Siberian jasper, the
belt of purpurine, with black jasper trousers
and boots, the trousers with gold piping, the
purpurine and black jasper fur shako with
gold trim (lacks bow-knot), the heels of the
boots inscribed, FABERGE in Cyrillic capitals
on one, and, 1912, on the other, the soles of
the boots inscribed in Cyrillic capitals,
N.N.PUSTYNNIKOV, on one, and, KAMERKAZAK since 1894, on the other. Contained in
original fitted holly wood case, the interior
silk lining stamped in black with the Imperial
Eagle and with, Fabergé, St. Petersburg,
Moscow, London, in Cyrillic.
Nicholas II commissioned Fabergé to produce this portrait figure of
N.N.Pustynnikov, the personal Cossack bodyguard (Kamer-Kazak, or
Chamber-Cossack) to the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna , and also a
second figure, of the Kamer-Kazak to the Dowager Empress Maria
Feodorovna. See, H.C. Bainbridge, Peter Carl Fabergé, B.T. Batsford
Ltd., London, 1949, p.113, where Bainbridge, who was Fabergé’s
representative in London from 1908 to 1917, discusses these orders
from the Tsar. The personal bodyguards to the Empress and Dowager
Empress accompanied them whenever they left their residences and
were held in high esteem by the Imperial family, which explains
Nicholas’s desire to memorialize them in this fashion. Nikolai Nikolaievich Pustynnikov (1857-1918) faithfully served the Empress Alexandra
from the time of her marriage to Nicholas II in 1894 until the imprisonment of the Imperial family in 1917, hence the inscription of 1912 on
the boot of the figure, “Kamer-Kazak since 1894.” A photograph of
Pustynnikov accompanying the Empress Alexandra and her daughters
Olga, Tatiana and Maria, in a horse-drawn sleigh, is reproduced by
Alexander von Solodkoff, The Jewel Album of Tsar Nicholas II and a
Collection of Private Photographs of the Russian Imperial Family,
Ermitage, London, 1997, p.193.
In his 1949 memoir, Bainbridge describes the figure of Pustinikov (sic),
which he illustrates, as the personal bodyguard of the Dowager
Empress. In fact however as we now know, Pustynnikov was the
Kamer-Kazak of the Empress Alexandra, and the personal bodyguard of
the Dowager Empress Maria was Alexei Alexeievich Kudinov. Fabergé’s
invoice to the Emperor for the figure of Kudinov, described by Fabergé
on the invoice as the Kamer-Kazak to the Dowager Empress Maria
Feodorovna has been published by Valentin Skurlov, Tatiana Fabergé
and Viktor Ilyukhin. See, K. Fabergé, and his Followers, Hardstone
Figures, published in Russian by Liki Rossii, St. Petersburg, 2009, p.62,
where the authors also reproduce the image of Pustynnikov’s figure,
although at that time its whereabouts remained unknown. The figure
of Kudinov is preserved in the collections of the State Pavlovsk
Museum, near St. Petersburg, and was exhibited in 1993/4 in London,
Paris and St. Petersburg. See, Géza von Habsburg and Marina Lopato,
Fabergé: Imperial Jeweler, Harry N. Abrams, New York, 1994, p.203.
The figure of Pustynnikov was also kept at Pavlovsk until the 1920’s
when it left Russia with the American entrepreneur and art dealer
Armand Hammer, who subsequently sold it to an antecedent of the
present consignor on December 11th, 1934.
Height 7 inches (17.8cm)
Provenance:
Nicholas II
Hammer Galleries
Mrs. George H. Davis
Thence by Descent
Estimate of $500,000 to $800,000.
Tsaritsa Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse), seated.1908.
Boasson and Eggler St. Petersburg Nevsky 24.
Kamerkazak Pustynnikov saluting behind a horse-drawn sleigh with Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna and three of her daughters. The photograph was taken by the Tsarina's sister, Princess
Irene of Hesse, in Tsarskoye Selo in 1908. From: The Jewel Album of Tsar Nicholas II, by Alexander von Solodkoff, London 1997, p. 193. © Solodkoff, Hemmelmark Archives
The drawing for this figure of
Pustynnikov
from
the
workshop of Fabergé’s Head
Workmaster, Henrik Wigström,
was published in 1994 in the
exhibition catalogue above
referenced, Fabergé: Imperial
Jeweler, and in 2000. See, Ulla
Tillander-Godenhielm, et al ,
Golden Years of Fabergé,
Drawings and Objects from the
Wigström Workshop, A La
Vieille Russie, 2000, p.51,
where the author refers to this
figure, under the heading of
“Personal commissions by the
Imperial family,” as “(an) example of gifts alluding to the daily life of the
Empresses.” Obviously this figure was ordered by Nicholas II from
Fabergé as a gift to his wife the Empress Alexandra.The drawing was
apparently designed to serve as a model for both Kamer-Kazaks, with,
of course, the individual features of each one. Although the production of these portrait figures was executed under the supervision of
Wigström, presumably by the stone-carving masters Derbyshev or
Kremlev, the actual modeling in wax was carried out from life by
sculptor Boris Frödman-Cluzel in his studio. Bainbridge wrote; “The
Tsar Nicholas II commissioned Fabergé to make stone models of these
guards. They were to be portraits from life, the two Cossacks attending
at the Fabergé studios where they were modeled in wax,” p.113. For an
essay on the sculptor Boris Frödman-Cluzel, born in 1878, see, Valentin
Skurlov, Fabergé Firm Artist and New Discovery of Fabergé’s Stone
Scuptures, Carl Fabergé, Goldsmith to the Tsar, National Museum,
Stockholm, 1997, where the author notes (p.37), that, “as late as 1925
the figurine of Chamber-Cossack Pustynnikov was still at the Pavlovsk
Palace Museum, together with his ‘brother’ Chamber-Cossack
Kudinov.”
According to Bainbridge and other researchers, the total number of
hardstone carvings of human figures produced by Fabergé was
probably no more than fifty. They are therefore extremely rare, on a
level of rarity with the Imperial Easter Eggs, and the portrait figures,
depictions of actual persons rather than simply “types,” are rarer still.
Very few portrait figureswere produced by Fabergé. Another known
portrait figure is of the famous Gypsy singer Varya Panina, reproduced
by Alexander von Solodkoff, Fabergé, Pyramid, London, 1988, p.84,
and one other can be identified as the Yardman (Dvornik) of Fabergé’s
St. Petersburg premises, reproduced by A.K. Snowman, Carl Fabergé,
Goldsmith to the Imperial Court of Russia, Greenwich House, 1983,
p.72.
The figures of the Kamer-Kazaks, Pustynnikov and Kudinov may be
considered the most important hardstone figures produced by
Fabergé. Their cost of 2300 rubles each was more than twice the cost
of the second most expensive figure purchased by Nicholas II during
the period 1908 to 1912, which was the boyar, at 950 rubles (sold by
Sotheby’s New York, April 21st 2005, lot 44), and almost three times
the cost of the famous dancing moujik, at 850 rubles, formerly in the
collection of Forbes Magazine and now owned by the Link of Times
Foundation. See, Tatiana Fabergé, Eric-Alain Kohler and Valentin
Skurlov, Fabergé: A Comprehensive Reference Book, Editions Slatkine,
Geneva, 2012, p.395, where the authors give the cost of the Pustynnikov figure and state that this figure “has now disappeared,” and also
Valentin Skurlov’s essay above referenced, published in Stockholm in
1997, where the author lists the costs of eleven hardstone figures
purchased by Nicholas II between 1908 and 1912 ranging in price from
480 rubles to 2300 rubles.
This figure of Kamer-Kazak Nikolai Nikolaievich Pustynnikov has
remained in the hands of the same family since 1934, and has never
before been publicly exhibited. Its re-emergence into the public sphere
in 2013 after the greater part of a century is therefore a significant
addition to the history and documentation of Fabergé’s creations.
Auction
October 26, 2013
Lot 125
Estimate: $500,000 to $800,000.*
549 Warren Street, Hudson, NY 12534 Tel: 518-751-1000
WWW.STAIRGALLERIES.COM
* Please contact our office to obtain the special instructions
regarding bidding on this item. All bidders for this item
should make arrangements by Monday, October 21, 2013 at
5pm ET. Preview for this item is by appointment only, and
need to be made 24 hours in advance.