Russian silver triptych icon valued at up to $405,000 at Sotheby's

An imperial silver triptych icon belonging to Prince Andrei Alexandrovich (1897-1981) is to auction at Sotheby's Russian Works of Art sale in London on November 25.

It's estimated to make £200,000-250,000 ($324,120-405,150).

Alexandrovich icon Russia
Prince Andrei Alexandrovich took the icon with him when he fled Russia in 1917

The prince's mother and father (the Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich and the Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna) commissioned the piece at his birth.

It's one of seven such icons presented to each of their children.

The lot was one of very few items carried with the prince on his flight from Russia following the revolution in 1917.

In the years afterwards, he kept it in a drawer at his home in England - only taking it out on special occasions.

Sotheby's comment: "While other imperial birth icons have appeared on the market, these are invariably of an official nature, presented by loyal subjects, bureacrats or municipalities.

"The present lot is marked out by its very personal connections to the Romanov Family, a gift from parents to child, which remained a central part of family life and worship for over a century."

Interest in memorabilia pertaining to the Russian royal family has grown in recent years. In a Paris auction in December last year, an archive of letters sent between the tsars realised an 829% increase on estimate.

Other lots in the sale include an elaborate rosewood, porcelain and gilt bronze writing cabinet that displays a reproduction of Carl Timoleon von Neff's Two Girls in National Dress on the front panel.

It was built at the imperial porcelain factory in St Petersburg in the mid 1800s and is expected to make £150,000-200,000 ($243,090-324,120).

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