A dormouse, carved in blue-grey and brown chalcedony, with cabochon sapphire eyes and platinum whiskers.

A quintessential inhabitant of the English hedgerow is beautifully captured by Fabergé's sculptors in this portrait of a dormouse carefully holding gold straws, which he is nibbling beneath his whiskers. This unique piece – no other Fabergé dormouse on this scale exists – calls to mind King Edward VII’s dictum ‘We do not want any duplicates’, which according to Bainbridge the King made clear to him when considering the formation of Queen Alexandra’s collection of Fabergé animals. Queen Alexandra purchased this model from the London branch on 5 November 1912 at a cost of £33. It was subsequently referred to as 'Queen Alexandra's Dormouse' in all records of the collection.

Text adapted from Fabergé's Animals: A Royal Farm in Miniature