A silver-gilt gum pot of compressed spherical form, overall decorated with translucent purple enamel over a moiré guilloché ground and mounted with a gold gadrooned border; the gold detachable brush with a cabochon moonstone finial in a chased leaf mount; marked on the rim and on the brush fitting.
In pre-revolutionary Russia, gum pots were familiar household objects, used for affixing postage stamps. The early stamps did not have water-soluble glue on the back; thus, it was necessary to have a convenient pot of glue or gum arabic on writing desks.
Fabergé was known for turning even the most mundane objects into refined works of art, and gum pots were no exception. These desk accessories were produced in a variety of shapes and forms: carved as fruits from semi-precious stones, or, like this one, cast in gold and silver and decorated with guilloché enamel.
