A PAIR OF COLD-PAINTED BRONZE FIGURES OF THE KAMER-KAZAK PERSONAL BODYGUARDS OF THE DOWAGER EMPRESS

A PAIR OF COLD-PAINTED BRONZE FIGURES OF THE KAMER-KAZAK PERSONAL BODYGUARDS OF THE DOWAGER EMPRESS MARIA FEODOROVNA AND THE EMPRESS ALEXANDRA FEODOROVNA, INSCRIBED FABERGE, DATED 1912 in dress parade uniform with orders and medals, 18.2cm h, inscribed (in Cyrillic) Kamer Kazak since 1894/A A Kudinov/Faberge 1912 or Kamer Kazok since 1894/N N Pustynnikov/Faberge 1912Another pair of these rare figures was sold Sotheby's Russian Works of Art, 1 December 2015, lot 446 (£25,000). The catalogue footnote draws attention to the somewhat enigmatic history of these bronzes and suggests they are copies of (or models for) the well known Faberge hardstone figures of the same subjects. What seems clear, at least, is that they almost certainly pre-date the mid 1920s.