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WHAT’S GOING ON IN MAY

ANTIQUE

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With the lockdown starting to lift, the UK is alive this month with events for

antique and fine art lovers

Right Romanov Tercentenary Egg, Fabergé. Chief Workmaster Henrik Wigstrom, 1913 © The Moscow Kremlin Museum

Below Chelsea Pensioner, by Fabergé. 1909, Royal Collection Trust © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2021

IMPERIAL COLLAGE LONDON Three Imperial Easter eggs by Fabergé will go on show for the first time in the UK at the V&A’s autumn exhibition exploring links between the Russian goldsmith and London.

Fabergé opened a shop in London in 1903, the first outside Russia, to make the most of the capital’s Edwardian elite, including Edward VII and Queen Alexandra who were avid collectors.

The exhibition, due to open in November, will include the largest Imperial Egg – the Moscow Kremlin Egg – the Alexander Palace Egg, featuring watercolour portraits of the children of Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra, and the Tercentenary Egg, which was created to celebrate 300 years of the Romanov dynasty.

Fabergé carefully tailored his works to his British clientele. He created hardstone portraits of the farm animals King Edward and Queen Alexandra bred at Sandringham, as well as pieces enamelled in the king’s horse racing colour. Exhibition highlights include a commission from the king of his faithful fox terrier Caesar.

Fabergé in London: Romance to Revolution opens on November 20.

For our feature on Fabergé turn

to page 16

Knight light Plans have been unveiled to celebrate the first woman elected to the Royal Academy, at a major exhibition later in the year.

A Panoramic View, at the MK Gallery in Milton Keynes, will bring together 100 works of Laura Knight (1877-1970), including rarelyseen paintings and designs

for ceramics, jewellery and costume.

The exhibition, opening in November, includes her early work from Nottingham Art School in 1899 at the age of just 13, as well as landscapes of her beloved Cornwall created while part of the artists’ commune in Newlyn.

Knight concentrated on portraying women, including the backstage life of ballet dancers, as well as themes of racial segregation, which she witnessed first-hand in a Baltimore maternity ward when she travelled to America in 1926 and met campaigners of the Civil Rights movement.

Above Laura Knight, Lubov Tchernicheva, 1921, Private collection, Photo courtesy Liss Llewellyn © Reproduced with permission of The Estate of Dame Laura Knight RA 2021

Tea with the Queen Inspired by the decoration of Sèvres porcelain in the Royal Collection, a range of china has been produced to mark the Queen’s official birthday next month when she is 95.

Featuring the royal coat of arms above a garland of roses, shamrocks and thistles, the design was inspired by the pink roses growing in the East Terrace garden at Windsor Castle which bloom in June, the month of the Queen’s official birthday.

The set, which includes a mug, pillbox and tankard, is made by hand in Stoke-on-Trent using techniques unchanged for 250 years, with pieces hand-finished in 22-carat gold.

The china can be purchased online from www.rct.uk/shop, as well as Royal Collection Trust shops with profits going to the trust.

Left The set was inspired by the Sèvres porcelain in the Royal Collection

Right A mug to celebrate the 95th birthday of the Queen

6 ANTIQUE COLLECTING