An Imperial Presentation jewelled gold and enamel box, Alexander Treiden for Hahn, St Petersburg before 1899.
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Oval, on all sides decorated in the Louis XVI-style with panels enamelled in translucent royal blue over a wave guilloché ground, framed by leaf decor engraved in the gold ground and with lines of white enamel, the lid applied with the diamond-set crowned cypher of Emperor Nicholas II. The inner rim struck with workmaster's initials and 56 standard. Length 8, height 3,1 cm, weight 175,5 gram. In original fitted red leather case applied with the Imperial coat-of-arms in gilt-brass.
Provenance
Swedish private collection.
Thence by decent.
Literature
Ulla Tillander-Godenhielm: Master’s Mark AT Variations in the World of St. Petersburg’s Goldsmiths: Solving an Old Puzzle, in Fabergé Research Newsletter, Fall and Winter 2020.
More information
Which masters hid behind the maker initials "AT" was unclear for a long time, but Dr. Ulla Tillander-Godenhielm has given them a solution. She has shown that the workmaster who stamped objects with "AT" delivered by court jeweler Carl Hahn (active 1882-1911) was Alexander Treiden. Very little is known about Treiden's background, but from the early 1880s until 1894 or 1896 he worked exclusively for Hahn before continuing as an independent jeweller.
Carl Hahn belonged to the top of St. Petersburgs jewelers and the business was run by two studios, one run by Carl Blank the other by Alexander Treiden, a similar organization to Carl Fabergé.
Recent research has shown that Hahn was second only to Fabergé the largest supplier of Imperial presentation boxes decorated with the Imperial monogram. Between 1895 and 1911, the Imperial Cabinet ordered 267 boxes bearing the Emperor's monogram, of which 70 were supplied by Hahn. It is not clear how many were made by Carl Blank or Treiden, but the majority appear to have come from Blank.