A pine tree in engraved dull red gold set with rose diamonds, in a carved bowenite vase supported on aventurine quartz platform. The branch in Japanese style.

Fabergé produced a small number of studies of plants and flowers that are not displayed in rock crystal vases. This gold pine tree sits in a pot carved from bowenite on a platform of aventurine quartz. This botanical study is said to have been modelled from life at Sandringham, perhaps in 1907 when Fabergé’s sculptors were in temporary residence on the estate working on King Edward VII’s commission for animal portrait models. The Prince of Wales (later King George V) purchased this plant from the London branch on 14 December 1908 for £52.

Text adapted from Fabergé in the Royal Collection