Third Imperial Egg

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Third Imperial Egg

The Third Imperial Egg is a Fabergé egg , which was made in the workshop of the Russian jeweler Carl Fabergé under the direction of the goldsmith August Holmström . The egg was a present for Easter in 1887 from the Russian Emperor Alexander III. to his wife Maria Feodorovna .

The unopened 8.2 centimeter high egg is the third “imperial” Fabergé egg after the first hen egg from 1885 and the lost hen egg with a sapphire pendant . It is made of gold and has a vertically fluted surface. The upper part can be opened by pressing a diamond-studded push button. Inside there is a golden ladies watch, which when folded up reveals the white dial. The out color Gold made three-legged stand is with diamonds and three large sapphires in cabochon occupied.

After the tsar's family was murdered and the tsar's mother fled into exile in Denmark, the egg ended up in the hands of the Soviet state and finally in the art trade. In 1964 it was auctioned undetected by Parke-Bernet in New York City and was subsequently lost. When it was recognized in the auction catalog from 1964 in 2011, an intensive search began, but was unsuccessful. The egg had meanwhile been sold to a gold dealer, the media refer to him as a “scrap dealer” who sold the egg in 2013 to the London jeweler and Fabergé expert Wartski . Wartski sold the egg to an unknown collector the following year.

background

In 1885 the Russian jeweler Carl Fabergé began manufacturing elaborately designed Easter eggs, of which 10 were given to the Russian Tsar Alexander III by 1894 . were sold. He gave them to his wife Maria Feodorovna on Easter . After the death of Alexander, his son Nicholas II continued the tradition until 1916 with 40 more eggs for Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna and Tsar mother Maria Feodorovna. The two eggs for 1917 were no longer delivered. In addition to the 52 “imperial” Fabergé eggs, more than a dozen were produced for private clients.

description

The third imperial egg is 8.2 centimeters high with its stand unopened. The removable egg itself is made of yellow gold and has pronounced vertical corrugations. There is a push button set with a large diamond on the front . Its actuation enables the upper third of the egg to be folded up. Inside the egg is a women's watch from Vacheron Constantin made of 14 carat gold. The watch has a white enamelled dial with an outer number ring for the minutes from 0 to 55, and an inner ring with the Roman numerals from I to XII for the hours. The two openwork hands are made of gold and are set with small diamonds. The watch's front case has been removed and it has been fitted into a holder that allows the watch to be flipped up when the egg is opened.

The stand of the watch consists of three types of colored gold . The massive ring above carries the golden egg, and below a round plate is incorporated as a connection between the three pairs of legs and as a support. The three pairs of legs protrude arched above, below they end in double lion paws as feet. Both the upper ring and the pairs of legs are provided with ornaments and floral decorations on the outside. In the middle between two pairs of legs on the ring there is a large sapphire as a cabochon , which is set in diamond-studded golden arcs. The sapphires are connected with garlands of rose petals and tricolor gold leaves, which form a drooping wreath on the pairs of legs.

Provenance and research history

Blue clock egg with snake , 1895

The Third Imperial Egg was bought by the jeweler Carl Fabergé for 2160 silver rubles for Emperor Alexander III. prepared. Alexander gave it to his wife, Tsarina Maria Fyodorovna, as a present for Easter in 1887. In mid-September 1917, about 40 Fabergé eggs were brought to the armory of the Moscow Kremlin on behalf of the Kerensky government , the third imperial egg was listed in an inventory: "Art. 1548. A gold ladies watch, opened and mounted in a gold egg with a diamond. The latter on a gold three-legged stand with three sapphires. Number 1644 ". The Fabergé eggs and numerous other valuables from the possessions of the tsarist family murdered in 1918 were handed over to the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR between February 17 and March 24, 1922 . The Third Imperial Egg was also named in an inventory as Article 68/1548: "A golden egg with a clock, a push button with a diamond and a stand with three sapphires and rose-cut diamonds".

The egg has been considered lost since 1922, and Fabergé research placed the blue clock egg with a snake in its place for the year 1887 in the series of "imperial" eggs. In 1964, the Third Imperial Egg was auctioned undetected by Parke-Bernet in New York City on behalf of a Mrs. Rena Clark . The description made extensive reference to the precious materials and high-quality workmanship, without mentioning Fabergé. The egg was sold to an unknown person on March 7, 1964 for $ 2,450 . Around 2004 it was sold at an antique market in the American Midwest for $ 13,302 to a gold dealer who supplemented his income by buying gold- and silver-bearing objects and selling them on at the price of materials. He had miscalculated the egg, its purchase price clearly exceeded the amount to be redeemed on sale.

In 2007, two previously unknown Fabergé eggs were discovered in a newly emerged photo of a charity exhibition in Saint Petersburg in 1902. One was initially thought to be the missing Nécessaire egg from 1889, but was later identified as the Third Imperial Egg . In 2011, two Fabergé connoisseurs discovered a picture of an object in the Parke-Bernet auction catalog from 1964 that corresponded to the photo from the exhibition in 1902. This notice was picked up by numerous mass media and published worldwide. In 2012, the owner tried to find out more about the egg that had been in his kitchen for almost a decade on the internet. He came across the media reports and contacted Wartski , whose reviewer immediately recognized the egg in the photos sent. For the egg, the value of which was estimated in the media at 20 million US dollars, a buyer could be found through Wartski's mediation, who acquired the egg for an undisclosed amount.

Exhibitions

Charity exhibition, Saint Petersburg 1902, the Third Imperial Egg in an enlarged image section

At the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900 , 14 of the 20 "Imperial" Fabergé eggs produced up to that point were presented on loan from the Tsar's court along with numerous other Fabergé objects. Only seven of them have been identified so far. It is not known whether the Third Imperial Egg was also shown. In March 1902, under the patronage of Alexandra Feodorovna, a charity exhibition with objects by Fabergé was held in the Petersburg palace of Baron Paul Pavlovich von Derwis. Numerous works of art were shown, mostly from the possession of the tsarist family, including numerous Fabergé eggs. This exhibition was only the second presentation of “Imperial” Fabergé eggs and the first in Russia.

In April 2014, the Third Imperial Egg , which was last publicly exhibited in 1902, was presented to the public for four days at Wartski in London.

Web links

Commons : Third Imperial Egg  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Annemiek Wintraecken: Timeline. wintraecken.nl, May 29, 2016, accessed on April 27, 2020 .
  2. ↑ a b c d Fabergé Imperial Egg Chronology. In: Fabergé Research Site. 2020, accessed April 27, 2020 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e Annemiek Wintraecken: 1887 Third Imperial Egg. wintraecken.nl, January 8, 2019, accessed on April 27, 2020 .
  4. ↑ a b c d e f The Lost Third Imperial Easter Egg. Retrieved April 27, 2020 .
  5. ↑ a b c Christel Ludewig McCanless: Third Imperial Easter Egg by Fabergé Found! A Research Chronology. In: Fabergé Research Site. 2014, accessed April 27, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Annemiek Wintraecken: Early Imperial Egg Exhibitions - 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle. wintraecken.nl, January 9, 2019, accessed April 10, 2020 .
  7. ↑ Annemiek Wintraecken: Early Imperial Egg Exhibitions. 1902 by Dervis Fabergé Exhibition, Saint Petersburg, Russia. wintraecken.nl, September 20, 2019, accessed on April 10, 2020 .