Cigarette Case (c.1885): Art, History and Details

Cigarette Case (c.1885) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is House of Fabergé (Russian, 1842–1918); Eric August Kollin (Russian, 1836–1901).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This cigarette box displays one of the quintessential qualities of chief workmaster Erik Kollin’s craft—mounting superior vessels cut from agate with tasteful gold mounts. This casing is so delicate and finely made that the contents, held inside by a simple yet elegant bar, would almost be visible from the exterior. This particular box is made from a tan tree agate that is reminiscent of a patterned fish or tortoise.

Object facts

• Title: Cigarette Case
• Date: c.1885
• Creator attribution: House of Fabergé (Russian, 1842–1918); Eric August Kollin (Russian, 1836–1901)
• Culture: Russia, St. Petersburg
• Type: Miscellaneous
• Technique: tan tree agate with ribbed gold mounts and interior gold cigarette restraints set with cabechon sapphire thumpiece
• Dimensions: Overall: 6.7 cm (2 5/8 in.)
• Collection: Decorative Arts
• Department: Decorative Art and Design
• Accession number: 2009.23

A detail from the museum

Created during Finnish-born Erik Kollin’s last year as Fabergé’s chief workmaster.

Collection credit

Gift of Howard F. Stirn

Further reading listed by the museum

• Harrison, Stephen, Emmanuel Ducamp, and Jeannine J. Falino. Artistic Luxury: Fabergé Tiffany Lalique. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in association with New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.