Turtle Bell Push
maker House of Fabergé (Russian, 1842–1918)
c. 1895–1915
- Medium
- agate, gold, silver, diamonds, rubies
- Classification
- Miscellaneous
- Dimensions
- Overall: 2.6 x 7.7 x 6.1 cm (1 x 3 1/16 x 2 3/8 in.)
- Culture
- Russia, St. Petersburg
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Decorative Art and Design
- Credit line
- The India Early Minshall Collection
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Little Ones profiles and older: it shows gentle subjects for the very young. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
In creating luxurious accessories for a desk or tabletop, Fabergé often used native hardstones such as multicolored agate and jasper, green nephrite, pink rhodonite, and rock crystal found in the Ural Mountains of western Russia. By paying careful attention to the unique colors and textures of the stones, Fabergé and his craftsmen brought them to life, turning milky agate into this turtle bell push or black jasper into sleeping puppies. The use of native materials also promoted Russian nationalism, which appealed greatly to the tsar and his family.
