From the Romanov era, period of Tsar Alexander II, the cover and sides of the trompe l’oeil silver tankard chased to simulate oak woodgrain, enhanced with horizontal polished silver gilt bands. The hinged cover has a crenelated edge surrounding a circle of dots like the rivets of an oak barrel. With curved handle and thumbpiece, with original gilded interior.

By Sazikov, with the Imperial Warrant, St. Petersburg, 1859, assaymaster Eduard Fedorovich Brandenburg, stamped with the maker’s mark in full in Cyrillic.

5 ¼ in. (13.3 cm.) high including thumbpiece.

Literature: Beyond Fabergé: Imperial Russian Jewelry by Marie Betteley and David Schimmelpenninck van der Oye, Schiffer, 2020, page 309.

Supplier to the Imperial court and founded during the reign of Catherine the Great in the centre of Moscow, Sazikov was one of the earliest silver firms in Russia. In the 1820s Sazikov introduced historicism in Russian silver by producing objects with historical motifs or imitating ancient styles. Decades before Fabergé, the firm excelled in the Style Russe and won great acclaim in Russian and international exhibitions.