This fan was purchased by Queen Alexandra from Fabergé’s London branch in December 1912 as a Christmas present for her daughter-in-law Queen Mary. It retains its original birchwood box, with Fabergé’s Imperial Warrant stamped inside the lid. The London branch of Fabergé opened in 1903, largely because of the popularity of the firm’s output with King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. By the time of the purchase of this fan the branch was based at 173 New Bond Street, where it remained until the closure of the London operation in 1915. Between 1902 and 1914 disbursements of over £3,000 were made by Queen Alexandra to Fabergé; of this, over £2,500 was paid from the Queen’s presents account, for gifts. King Edward VII also made numerous purchases from Fabergé, and in 1907 placed a major commission with the firm - for miniature animal sculptures of the domestic and farm animals at Sandringham. A strong interest in Fabergé was inherited by King George V and was shared by Queen Mary and by their daughter-in-law Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.

The guards of this fan are stamped by the workmaster Henrik Wigström, by whom a number of other fans with painted silk leaves are known. The stock book containing watercolour records of the objects produced in Wigström’s workshop between 1909 and 1915 includes a number of sketches of fans, but none of these relates to surviving fans in the Royal Collection. In the present fan, a Rococo-inspired leaf is combined with guards decorated in a Neoclassical style. With an assay mark of 56 zolotniks, and ‘FABERGE’ in Cyrillic; with a paper label in Queen Mary’s handwriting: ‘From Queen Alexandra Xmas 1912’.


Text adapted from Unfolding Pictures: Fans in the Royal Collection, 2005