A circular silver-gilt desk clock, enamelled chartreuse over a wavy sun-ray guilloché ground applied with overlaid olive branches surrounding a white enamel dial within a gadrooned gold bezel, black Arabic chapters and pierced gold hands, all within an interwoven outer border, the ivory back with a hinged scroll strut. Contained in a later fitted retailer’s case.
Michail Yevlampievitch Perkhin (1860-1903) was Fabergé’s second, and most gifted head workmaster, active from 1884 until 1903. During these years, he supervised the production of the imperial Easter eggs. All but one, famous Fabergé large Imperial Eggs made before Perkhin’s death in 1903 bear the hallmark of his workshop.
The period when Perkhin was in charge of Fabergé’s works is acknowledged as being particularly innovative, with the firm’s output covering a great range of different object types and styles. With the arrival of Perkhin at the Fabergé firm in 1884 and his appointment as head workmaster, Fabergé began to experiment in translucent guilloché enamels and hardstone carvings.
