Antique Russian silver cloisonne enamel whistle suspending an enamelled egg, worked in polychrome enamel with scrolling foliage and struck 84 for the Imperial zolotnik standard, 19th century.
It is a working whistle, not a pendant made to look like one. The bar is hollow, with a mouthpiece at one end and a fipple slot cut into the top edge, the same arrangement as a recorder head, and it sounds when blown. Whistles of this kind hung from a chatelaine, a watch chain or a lady's belt, close enough to hand to call a servant, a carriage or a dog.
Both the bar and the egg are decorated in cloisonne enamel. Fine silver wires are soldered on edge to the body to draw the pattern, the cells between them are packed with coloured enamel paste and fired, and the surface is then ground back flat so the wires show as bright lines through the colour. The palette here is the Moscow one, red, cobalt, turquoise, green and white, worked in scrolling foliage and stylised petals against a stippled ground.
The egg hangs from a jump ring at the mouthpiece end. The Russian Easter egg was given at Paschaltide and then worn on a chain through the rest of the year, and silver and enamel examples were made in quantity in Moscow through the last decades of the nineteenth century. Combining one with a working whistle is an unusual arrangement.
The suspension ring is struck 84, the Imperial Russian zolotnik standard for silver, equivalent to 875 parts per thousand, together with Cyrillic maker's initials.
Dimensions -
Length: 5.8 cm
Width: 1.4 cm
Weight: 4.83 g
Specifications -
Metal: Silver, 84 zolotnik standard, equivalent to 875
Mark: 84 with Cyrillic maker's initials, to the suspension ring
Decoration: Polychrome cloisonne enamel
Origin: Russia
Period: 19th century
Form: Whistle with suspended egg
Condition :
Very good antique condition. The cloisonne enamel is complete on both the whistle and the egg with no loss, the cloisons are crisp, and the jump ring and suspension ring are sound.
Antique Russian silver cloisonne enamel whistle suspending an enamelled egg, worked in polychrome enamel with scrolling foliage and struck 84 for the Imperial zolotnik standard, 19th century.
It is a working whistle, not a pendant made to look like one. The bar is hollow, with a mouthpiece at one end and a fipple slot cut into the top edge, the same arrangement as a recorder head, and it sounds when blown. Whistles of this kind hung from a chatelaine, a watch chain or a lady's belt, close enough to hand to call a servant, a carriage or a dog.
Both the bar and the egg are decorated in cloisonne enamel. Fine silver wires are soldered on edge to the body to draw the pattern, the cells between them are packed with coloured enamel paste and fired, and the surface is then ground back flat so the wires show as bright lines through the colour. The palette here is the Moscow one, red, cobalt, turquoise, green and white, worked in scrolling foliage and stylised petals against a stippled ground.
The egg hangs from a jump ring at the mouthpiece end. The Russian Easter egg was given at Paschaltide and then worn on a chain through the rest of the year, and silver and enamel examples were made in quantity in Moscow through the last decades of the nineteenth century. Combining one with a working whistle is an unusual arrangement.
The suspension ring is struck 84, the Imperial Russian zolotnik standard for silver, equivalent to 875 parts per thousand, together with Cyrillic maker's initials.
Dimensions -
Length: 5.8 cm
Width: 1.4 cm
Weight: 4.83 g
Specifications -
Metal: Silver, 84 zolotnik standard, equivalent to 875
Mark: 84 with Cyrillic maker's initials, to the suspension ring
Decoration: Polychrome cloisonne enamel
Origin: Russia
Period: 19th century
Form: Whistle with suspended egg
Condition :
Very good antique condition. The cloisonne enamel is complete on both the whistle and the egg with no loss, the cloisons are crisp, and the jump ring and suspension ring are sound.
