A Fabergé Silver and Guilloché Enamel Photograph Frame, Workmaster Hjalmar Armfelt, St Petersburg, 1908-1917

With A La Vieille Russie, New York;

Milicent Rogers (1902 - 1953);

Thence by Descent;

Sotheby's, New York, April 16, 2013, lot 55;

Where acquired by the present collector.

Millicent Rogers (1902 - 1953)

Born into a unique level of luxury made available through inheritance from her grandfather and co-founder of Standard Oil, Millicent Rogers captivated international Edwardian society. Her personal collections included Impressionist paintings, Fabergé and important jewelry. During the interwar years, her personal style, social position and significant patronage of designers such as Charles James were perfectly suited to the fashion features staged by Condé Nast. She first appeared in Vogue at thirteen and over the next forty years would sit for Horst P. Horst, Cecil Beaton and Louise Dahl-Wolfe among others. As demonstrated by the Dahl-Wolfe shoot for Harper's Bazaar in 1948, the key to Rogers's style was in the artful combination of over- and under-statement, in this case a Charles James blouse as the backdrop for a sophisticated eighteenth-century diamond star of the Russian order of St Catherine. The present lot, with its striking royal blue enamel and simple, yet elegant silver mounts, is also indicative of the taste of this twentieth-century style icon.