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Cover for a Miniature Teapot

Mikhail Evlampievich Perkhin

1891

unspecified

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Impressionism Realism Late 19th Century St. Petersburg

Dominant colour

Cover for a Miniature Teapot is a 1891 unspecified by Mikhail Evlampievich Perkhin, a Impressionism work, depicting St. Petersburg, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Mikhail Evlampievich Perkhin
When & what style?: 1891 · Impressionism
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

This is a tiny but fancy lid for a teapot. It looks like a delicate keepsake you'd give to someone special. The House of Fabergé made these little luxuries. Perkhin worked in St. Petersburg. He used hard Russian stones like agate and rhodonite with gold to make it sparkle. Check out more Perkhin pieces at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

The story of this work

Overview

The House of Fabergé specialized in the creation of little treasures intended as opulent personal gifts. In creating luxurious accessories for a desk or tabletop, Fabergé often used native hardstones such as multicolored agate and quartz, green nephrite, pink rhodonite, rock crystal, and pale green bowenite found in the Ural Mountains of western Russia. Fabergé's designers often paired hardstones with gold mounts, particularly in the St. Petersburg workshop where the goldsmiths were concentrated.

Did you know?

Sometimes called "new jade," bowenite is actually considered a semi-precious gemstone. Though Fabergé obtained his supply from the Ural Mountains of Russia, bowenite is also the state mineral of Rhode Island.

Read the full account in the museum source.