A 19th Century Antique Gold Mounted Carved Jade, Carnelian and Diamond Desk Wax Seal

circa 1870s

The jade handle is carved with clovers in oriental taste. Each clover is highlighted with a bezel-set old mine diamond.

The design and material of the handle reflect a fashion for Chinese and Japanese decorative objects among aristocrats in the 1870s-1880s.

The elaborately chased with floral designs gold fitting is crafted in 18K gold plated with 24K.

Although unmarked, it is a work of a major St. Petersburg jeweler of the period.

Height 71 mm (2 3/4 in.)

The desk seal is in a near mint condition.

The carnelian seal matrix is engraved with a heraldic shield beneath the Russian princely crown.

The shield is held by a lion and a griffin which are standing on cannons.

Four flags are placed behind the shield.

The chain and badge of the Order of the Golden Fleece, one of the most prestigious European Order of knighthood,

and crosses with sashes of five other Orders, are hanging on the shield.

Some of the Orders can be identified as Russian Orders of St. Vladimir with swords, St. Stanislav with swords and St. Anna with a crown.

The swords of the Orders indicate that the owner was a high ranking military officer.

The presence of a griffin with a sword – the coat-of-arms of Livonia (a Russian Baltic province) – suggests that the owner of the seal was of a Baltic aristocratic family.

Arms of Livonia with a walking griffin holding a sword, was adopted by Tsar Paul I in 1800.