Parasol Handle

Description The House of Fabergé was known worldwide for its exquisite enamel work. In this parasol handle the metal form was mechanically engraved with a ray pattern. Several coats of translucent pink enamel were then fired at very high temperatures, allowing the engraved pattern to shimmer through. The process is known as guilloché enameling, from the French word for “geared” or “turned.” To add to the luxurious effect, before the last coat of enamel was applied, a design in imitation of moss agate, a semiprecious stone, was painted on. Real diamonds alternate with the red and white beads of enamel, in imitation of pearls and uncut rubies.

Exhibitions

• Objects of Vertu: Precious Works of the Eighteenth Century. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1984.
• Carl Fabergé in Context. Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Munchen. 1986-1987.
• Fabergé in America. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond; New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans; The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland. 1996-1997.
• The Fabergé Menagerie. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus; Portland Art Museum, Portland. 2003-2004.
• From Rye to Raphael: The Walters Story. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2014-2016.
• Fabergé and the Russian Crafts Tradition: An Empire's Legacy . The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2017-2018.

Provenance Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1900, by purchase [from the factory]; Mrs. Warren Delano III, New York, 1900, by gift; Laura F. Delano, New York, 1922; Walters Art Museum, 1950, by gift.

Inscriptions Hall marks of Fabergé (full name in Russian); initials of Mikhail Perkhin; 72 [standing for 18 karats]

Credit Gift of Miss Laura F. Delano, 1950