Rare Russ Empire Japanese Antique 56 Gold enamel old cut diamonds brooch  For Sale

FABERGE GOLD AND Enamel BROOCH With Old Mine Diamonds .STAMPED KF 56 . 1,3 inches from one side to another ( 3,2 centimeter)This scattered disc motif appears on the well-known cigarette case and matching brooch formerly in the Forbes Collection, both illustrated, G. von Habsurg,Fabergé: Imperial Craftsman and His World, 2000, nos. 200 and 200a, p. 126. Its Aesthetic style is a hybrid of Japanese and Arts and Crafts influences. The discs are Fabergé'sinterpretation of Japanesekikumon, or pie ornament, which is a formalised chrysanthemum originallyused as a heraldic device and symbol of Imperial power on fabric and Imari ceramics; the motif was widely imitated in the West in the late 19th century. Sotheby's 1966 cataloguing of the Forbes case refers to the decoration as "in Korin style", after Japanese painter and lacquerer Ogata Korin (c.1657-1716); see Sotheby's London, 21 March 1966, lot 119. As noted by von Habsburg, it is "one of the most original designs from the Fabergé Moscow workshop; it is also one of the most technically accomplished",owing tothe difficulty of firing so many different colouredenamels simultaneously.