Thursday, February 14, 2013

Gifts of Grandeur: Queen Mary's Fabergé Bleeding Heart, 1900



Bleeding Heart
circa 1900
Acquired by Queen Mary in 1934
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II



Another of Queen Mary’s important collection of works by the House of Fabergé, this little sculpture of rock crystal, gold, nephrite, rhodonite, and quartzite was made around 1900 and is considered one of the finest of the Fabergé treasures in The Royal Collection. 

Queen Mary acquired this study of “bleeding hearts” (a flowering plant which produces elegant arching sprays of heart-shaped red and/or white blooms) in 1934. The sculpture shows a double spray of the flowers, carved in rhodonite and quartzite. Three sets of delicately-carved nephrite leaves spring from green quartzite stalks. A vase of rock crystal serves as the base. To emulate the true nature of the flowers, the blooms are suspended on gold stems, articulated en tremblant so that they can move when the piece is touched, as if they were blown by the wind.

Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

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