The silver gilt and cloisonné enamel pictorial box, probably by Feodor Rückert, 1911, that sold for £175,000 at Sotheby’s Russian works of art sale.
Christie's top object in their June 6 sale was a vase made by the Imperial Porcelain Factory in 1866 which went below-estimate at £350,000, while a Fabergé snuff-box from c.1890 with an inset miniature of Nicholas II (given to Lord Carrington in 1894) sold at £320,000 against a £300,000-500,000 estimate.
Selling at Sotheby's against a £30,000-50,000 pitch was this 5in (12.2cm) wide silver gilt and cloisonné enamel pictorial box, probably by Feodor Rückert, 1911.
The panel to the lid depicts the monument to Emperor Alexander II in Kiev. The box was thought to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Emperor's emancipation of the serfs in 1861.
Selling to a private buyer at £175,000, it was the top lot at Sotheby's works of art sale.
