FABERGÉ SILVER-MOUNTED SEED-PEARL AND ENAMEL CLOCK Workmaster Henrik Wigström, St Petersburg, 1908-1917

The celadon translucent enamel over sunburst enganine-turning produces a lively undulating effect. Hallmarks: in CyrIllic ‘Faberge’, maker’s mark ‘HW’ for Henrik Wigström, 91 silver standard, inventory number, engraved in Cyrillic ‘Ned. Zav’, A.R. 11 x 11 cm PROVENANCE: Acquired in Russia between 1903 and 1917 Collection of Prince Mikhail Cantacuzène, Count Speransky, and Julia Dent Cantacuzène Speransky-Grant Thence by descent Bonhams, London, The Russian Sale, 7 June 2010, lot 180 Private collection, Europe LITERATURE: Cynthia Coleman Sparke, Russian Decorative Arts, Published by Woodbridge, Suffolk: Antique Collectors' Club, 2014, ill. p.51, N.57 This remarkable clock comes from the distinguished family collection of Prince Mikhail Cantacuzène, Count Speransky, and his American wife, Julia Dent Grant Cantacuzène. Prince Mikhail Cantacuzène (1875–1955), a Russian nobleman, was born in Ukraine and was the great-grandson of Count Speransky, the Russian statesman under Emperor Alexander I. Prince Mikhail Cantacuzène served as a representative to the USA in 1892 and later as a diplomat at the Russian Embassy in Rome. He eventually became Aide-de-Camp to Emperor Nicholas II, leading Russian Cossacks in a renowned cavalry charge during World War I. Julia Dent Grant Cantacuzène (1876–1975), the granddaughter of U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant, was a prominent American socialite. Her father, Frederick Dent Grant, became the U.S. Ambassador to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the family moved to Vienna, where Julia made her formal debut at the court of Empress Elizabeth of Austria. She and Mikhail were married in 1899 at Beaulieu, an Astor family home in Newport, Rhode Island. After the 1917 Russian Revolution, the couple fled to the United States with a few cherished items, possibly including this clock. Julia later documented her Russian experiences in a series of memoirs, while Mikhail managed the Hyde Park citrus grove in Florida and eventually became Vice President of the Palmer Bank.