Rectangular box, translucent gold with reeded guilloché enamel ground and border of translucent green, red and white enamel. Lid set with oval en grisaille miniature of Falconet's Peter the Great monument with red and white enamel twist border. Diamond thumbpiece.

This box is painted with a view of Etienne Falconet’s monument in St Petersburg, completed in 1782, glorifying Peter the Great’s absolutism. The miniature, which is designed to look like a cameo, was painted by Vassily Zuiev, a miniaturist employed by Fabergé, and is dated 1913, the year of the Romanov tercentenary. A design for a similar box appears in a design album from Henrik Wigström’s workshop, where this box was made. The box belonged originally to Prince Vladimir Galitzine, from whom Queen Mary purchased it in September 1934 for £178. She gave the box to King George V for Christmas 1934.

Mark of Henrik Wigström; gold mark of 56 zolotniks (1908-17); Fabergé in Cyrillic characters

Text adapted from Fabergé in the Royal Collection