Snuff bottle and stopper

The Dowager Tsarina Marie Feodorovna gave this unusual snuff bottle to Queen Mary for Christmas in 1913, having purchased it from Fabergé's London shop. The branch had been established in 1900, and quickly became a favourite haunt of the British royal family and their circle.  Fabergé was well known for his eclectic designs and in this instance an eighteenth- or nineteenth-century Chinese carved snuff bottle has been re-mounted with an enamelled gold lid, decorated with oriental-style motifs and topped with a pearl.