Faberge egg

Fabergé egg for the 300th anniversary of the Romanov Tsar dynasty (1913)

As Faberge eggs are ornaments in the form of Easter eggs referred to 1885-1917 in the workshop of Peter Carl Faberge in St. Petersburg were made. A distinction is made between ceremonial eggs that were made on behalf of the tsar (imperial) and those made to order by people who wanted to imitate the tsar - such as Alexander Kelch (married to the gold mine owner Warwara Petrowna Kelch ), Beatrice Ephrussi (née Rothschild) , the Duchess of Marlborough , the oil magnate Emanuel Nobel or PrinceFelix Sumarokov-Elston . Then as now, the Fabergé eggs are the epitome of the finest goldsmithing and a symbol of luxury .

The following describes the 52 imperial eggs, the 7 chalice eggs and the 4 commission eggs, which were manufactured in imperial quality.

History of the Fabergé eggs

In Russia it has been a tradition since the 17th century to give each other decorated eggs and three kisses at Easter, the most important festival of the Orthodox Church. The custom developed, depending on the wealth of the respective family, to give away symbolic eggs in place of ordinary chicken eggs, for example those made of wood or more valuable materials such as porcelain, glass or metal. In 1885, Tsar Alexander III. commissioned the hen 's egg from the court blacksmith Fabergé ()аберже) , which he gave to his wife Maria Feodorovna . The enthusiasm for the work was so great that from then on Alexander presented his wife with an egg from the Fabergés factory at Easter every year; a total of ten until his death (1894). His son and successor Tsar Nicholas II continued the tradition of his father until his overthrow (1917) and had another forty eggs made, which he then handed over to his mother and his wife Alexandra Feodorovna at Easter , only interrupted by the Russian - Japanese War (1904/05). Two more eggs (1917) were not allowed to be completed and handed over.

Most of the eggs can be opened to reveal a surprise hidden inside.

Over time, Fabergé, his workshop managers Michael Perchin (until 1903) and Henrik Wigström (from 1903) and his highly qualified foremen August Holmström (until 1903) and his son Albert Holmström (from 1903) increased their efforts in making the eggs. Their prices rose in line with the production costs: while the hen egg still cost 4,115 rubles , the lily of the valley egg (1898), made of ivory and adorned with pearls and diamonds , was a considerable 6,700 rubles. By far the most expensive egg was the Winter Egg, produced in 1913, at 24,600 rubles. It was created for the Tsar's mother on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty. Outwardly, it was designed in memory of a particularly harsh winter. Inside the egg there is a small basket of flowers woven from platinum and diamonds. The flowers in the basket are cut from quartz, the stems and anthers are made of gold and the leaves are made of nephrite . In 2002 it achieved at an auction at Christie's in New York City at a price of 9.6 million dollars . On November 28, 2007, another of the non-imperial eggs, the so-called Rothschild egg, was sold at Christie's auction house for 12.5 million euros to an anonymous bidder who was later revealed to be the Russian billionaire Alexander Nikolayevich Ivanov . The egg can be viewed in the Hermitage in Moscow since 2014.

Two other eggs of imperial quality cannot be assigned because they do not fit into the series of imperial eggs and there is little background information. In addition, there are no Fabergé symbols on either the eggs or the surprises. It is believed that the blue enamel egg of Tsar Alexander III. was given to his son Nikolaus on the occasion of his return from the world tour in 1891. The lapis lazuli egg may have been made for another member of the Romanov family.

A large number of other eggs for private clients were made in the Fabergé workshops, but not at imperial quality due to the limited use of the most valuable materials and reduced work technology.

The further history of the 52 imperial eggs is determined by the political events in Russia. At the beginning of the October Revolution , the Tsar's mother took the last egg given to her, the St. George's Order Egg (1916), with her on her flight to Denmark . Lenin had the remaining eggs confiscated. In the early 1920s, he finally sold some of the eggs to Western art dealers, such as the businessman Armand Hammer , who bought no fewer than thirteen. Most of the seven Fabergé eggs given away by Alexander Ferdinandowitsch Kelch to his wife Barbara Kelch appeared in 1920 at a Parisian jeweler. Barbara Kelch moved there in 1904, before her divorce in 1910.

The largest collection of imperial (9) and non-imperial eggs (6) was brought together by the American publisher Malcolm Forbes . For the Royal Collection of the British queen has three of the Imperial eggs. The American entrepreneur John Lee Pratt bought five eggs , which he donated to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond after his death . Another is in Monaco , and two more are owned by the Swiss Sandoz Foundation; the rest is divided between known and unknown private collections. In February 2004, the Russian oligarch Wiktor Wekselberg bought ten eggs from the Forbes collection through his The Link of Times Cultural and Historical Foundation for the equivalent of 100 million dollars.

From 1989 to 2009 the Fabergé tradition was continued by the Pforzheim jewelery manufacturer Victor Mayer with the exclusive right to use the Fabergé stamp on their products. In order to maintain the style of the Russian prototype, the factory support occupations such as chaser , Granuleur, turner , enameller and Pailletteur .

Where are the 52 Imperial Eggs?

Art historians are currently aware of the whereabouts of 46 eggs in the following museums and collections. 6 eggs are missing.

number	Whereabouts	The 52 Imperial Eggs
10	Armory of the Moscow Kremlin	Asowa egg, Madonna lily egg, egg with the Trans-Siberian Railway, shamrock egg, Moscow Kremlin egg, Alexander Palace egg, standard egg, egg with equestrian statue of Alexander III, egg for the 300th year of reign, military steel egg
9	Fabergé Museum in Saint Petersburg, (Collection Wiktor Wekselberg )	Hen egg , Renaissance egg and associated resurrection egg, rosebud egg, coronation egg, lily of the valley egg , cuckoo egg, egg for the 15th anniversary of the throne, orange tree egg / laurel tree egg, St. George's order egg / St. George's Cross Egg; as well as the surprise of the lost mauve-colored egg
6th	lost	Egg with hen in the basket , angel-with-wagon egg , nécessaire egg , mauve -colored egg with 3 miniatures, royal Danish egg, Alexander III. Memorial egg
5	privately owned	Clock Egg (USA) , Pansy Egg (USA), Empire / Nephrit Egg (USA), Egg with Love Trophies (no surprise) (USA), Winter Egg (Qatar)
5	Virginia Museum of Fine Arts , Richmond, USA	Rock crystal egg with 12 miniatures, pelican egg, Peter the Great egg, tsarevich egg, red cross egg with imperial portraits
3	Metropolitan Museum of Art , New York City, USA	Danish palace egg, Caucasus egg, Napoleonic egg
3	Royal Collection of the Queen of England	Basket-with-wildflowers-egg, colonnade-egg, mosaic-egg
2	Fondation Edouard et Maurice Sandoz, Lausanne, Switzerland	Swan egg, peacock egg
2	Fabergé Museum, Baden-Baden	Birch Egg, Constellation-of-the-Tsarevich-Egg (the unfinished egg)
-	Mineralogical Museum “AJ Fersman” , Moscow	Dispute: Constellation-of-the-Tsarevich-Egg (see there)
2	Hillwood Museum, Washington, DC , USA	Purple Egg with 12 monograms, Egg Catherine the Great
2	Walters Art Museum , Baltimore , ( Maryland ), USA	Gatchina Palace Egg, Rose Trellis Egg
1	Cleveland Museum of Art , Cleveland, USA	Red Cross Egg with Resurrection Triptych
1	Collection of Albert II of Monaco	Blue clock egg with snake
1	McFerrin Collection, Houston, USA	Diamond lattice egg, (surprise Elizabeth II of England)

The Fabergé eggs in imperial quality

Hen's Egg (1885)

The first imperial surprise egg from 1885 is an almost exact copy of a royal Easter egg from the 18th century, which is currently kept at Rosenborg Castle in Copenhagen . With its white enameled egg shell, it looks very much like a real egg. The first surprise is the gold yolk inside , which in turn can be opened and reveals a hen , made of four-color gold , decorated with ruby eyes. Originally there was a small tsar's crown with two ruby eggs hanging from it as a final surprise. Both the crown and the eggs have been lost over time.

Workshop manager: probably Erik Kollin
Materials: multicolor gold , enamel , rubies
Dimensions: egg: 6.4 cm; Egg yolk: 4 cm; Hen: 3.5 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Alexander III. to his wife Maria Feodorovna; The Forbes Magazine Collection, New York
Remaining: Collection Wiktor Wekselberg

Egg with a hen in a basket (1886)

The second Imperial Easter egg is missing. In the imperial archives it is described as a golden hen with pink diamonds who takes a sapphire egg from the nest with her beak. The surprise inside was a wicker basket made of gold, decorated with 500 diamonds. Further information is not available.

Length: unknown
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Alexander III. to his wife Maria Feodorovna
Whereabouts: lost

Clock Egg (1887)

The egg is made of gold with a vertically fluted surface. The upper part opens by pressing a diamond-studded push button. Inside the 8.2 cm high ice decorated with a cabochon sapphire and a rose diamond is a watch from the watch manufacturer Vacheron Constantin with a white enamel dial. The egg was thought to have been lost since 1922 until it was rediscovered by a scrap dealer at an antique market in the United States in 2014. The scrap dealer bought the egg for the equivalent of € 10,000. The Fabergé expert Kieran McCarthy from the London jewelry store Wartski was able to confirm to the scrap dealer: It was actually a real Fabergé egg. Research has shown that the egg had already been auctioned at Parke-Bernet in 1964 , but was not recognized as a Fabergé egg. It was sold to a private collector through the antique dealer Wartski.

Foreman: August Holmström
Height: 8.2 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Alexander III. to his wife Maria Feodorovna; Wartski, London
Location: privately owned (USA)

Angel with a chariot egg (1888)

Angel-with-chariot-egg (1888, photo detail)

Nothing is known about the whereabouts of this egg, nor is there any reliable background information about the origin and appearance of the egg. According to the latest findings, this egg is said to have been pulled by an angel while standing on a two-wheeled carriage. As a surprise, another angel with a clock is said to have hidden inside the egg. This information can be traced back to the large enlargement of a photo taken in 1902 and the corresponding description on the Fabergé invoice. Probably the egg was sold to Armand Hammer in the 1930s , who in turn sold it to an unknown private person (probably in the US).

Length: unknown
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Alexander III. to his wife Maria Feodorovna; Armand Hammer, New York
Whereabouts: lost

Nécessaire egg (1889)

Nécessaire egg (1889, photo)

The egg adorned with the precious stones was made as a precious cover for a thirteen-piece diamond-studded miniature toilet article set for women. The egg found its way through the Kremlin armory in Moscow in 1949 to an exhibition by the British royal jeweler Wartski, who specializes in Russian exhibits, and was bought by him and sold in 1952 to a “stranger”. Its whereabouts have been unknown since then.

Length: unknown
Material: gold, sapphires, rubies, emeralds, diamonds, pearl ring
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Alexander III. to his wife Maria Feodorovna; Wartski, London
Whereabouts: lost

Danish Palace Egg (1890)

This Louis-seize- style Easter egg is divided into twelve sections by six vertical and three horizontal diamond rose and laurel ribbons, each intersection being adorned with an emerald cabochon with rose gold floral ornamentation. This egg is crowned by a medallion made of ray-shaped, chased acanthus leaves , in the middle of which there is a gray-blue star sapphire cabochon with a diamond rose border. The acanthus leaf medallion is also used on the lower part of the egg. As a surprise inside the egg there is a foldable, ten-part gold frame; each panel is bordered by a braided band frieze, crowned by a chiseled, four-color gold wreath of flowers with lateral laurel branches and stands on Greek meander feet . The miniatures on the boards show from left to right:

Imperial yacht Polarstern
Bernstorff Castle near Copenhagen
Imperial Villa in the park of Fredensborg Palace
Fredensborg Castle summer residence

Amalienborg Palace , Copenhagen

Kronborg Castle , Elsinore

Alexandria country house, Peterhof

Gatchina country house near St. Petersburg

Gatchina Palace near St. Petersburg

Imperial yacht Zarevna

The miniatures on the panels are signed Konstantin Krijitsky 1889 .

Workshop manager: Michael Perchin
Characters: Fabergé, Michael Perchin, number 56 with crossed anchors and scepter
Material: shell: green and rose gold, opalescent pink guilloché enamel, star sapphire , emerald , diamond roses, pink velvet lining; Miniature frame: four-color gold; Miniature: watercolor on mother-of-pearl
Technique: Transparent enamel coating on a guilloche background with cross patterns, casting, chasing
Height: 10.1 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Alexander III. to his wife Maria Feodorovna; The Matilda Geddings Gray Foundation, New Orleans
Location: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, USA

Azowa Egg (1891)

The outer egg shell is made of heliotrope (or blood jasper) and is decorated with diamond-studded gold rouges . The locking mechanism consists of a ruby and two diamonds . As a surprise, the inner egg lined with green velvet contains a miniature replica of the cruiser Pamjat Asowa made of gold and platinum . The then Tsarevich Nikolaus had circled the world with this cruiser in 1890/91. The portholes are set with diamonds and the ship's name is embossed into the stern. The ship floats on a gold-colored aquamarine sea and can be detached from its base by means of an eyelet.

Workshop manager: Michael Perchin, foreman: Yuri Nicolai
Marks: Fabergé, Michael Perchin, hallmark St. Petersburg, Standard 72
Material: gold , platinum , diamonds , rubies, heliotrope , aquamarine , velvet lining
Length: 9.3 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Alexander III. to his wife Maria Feodorovna
Remaining: Kremlin Armory , Moscow

Diamond Lattice Egg (1892)

The egg is made of gold, bowenite, rose diamonds, and silver. Carved from light green bowenite, the egg is enclosed in a grid of rose-cut diamonds with gold mounts. Originally the egg had a stand with three putti, which represent the three sons of the imperial couple, Nikolaus, Georg and Michael. The bracket is lost, but there is an old photo. The surprise inside is a miniature ivory elephant adorned with precious stones, described as an automaton, which sets itself in motion with a small key and raises and lowers its head. Egg and surprise are kept in separate collections, the base is lost.

Workshop manager: Michael Perchin, foreman: August Holmström
Height: egg: 10.8 cm, surprise 6.0 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Alexander III. to his wife Maria Feodorovna; Wartski, London
Whereabouts: egg: McFerrin Collection, Houston, USA; Surprise: Royal Collection HM Queen Elizabeth II, London, UK

Caucasus Egg (1893)

The jewelry egg in the (late) Louis XV style has four oval medallions with hinged lids in the middle . These are decorated with pearls on the edges and have an oval laurel wreath made of diamonds with ribbons in the middle , which in turn winds around a number made from diamonds, the four numbers together making up the year 1893. Each medallion is flanked by a diamond-studded column with a golden pearl at each end. At the top of the work is a large portrait diamond surrounded by diamond roses and a laurel wreath, including the portrait of Grand Duke Georg Alexandrowitsch (1871–1899), the third son of the tsarist couple, in his naval uniform. Rose garlands made of four-color gold with diamond-set platinum bows and rose twig pendants hang down from the shoulder of the egg. The lower part of the egg is similarly decorated, with smaller portrait diamonds at the base. On each medallion there is a miniature painted on an ivory background with different views of the imperial hunting lodge Abastuman in the Caucasus , in which Grand Duke Georg Alexandrovich , who was suffering from tuberculosis, spent most of his life and died in 1899. The views come from the court miniaturist Konstantin Krijitsky and are signed and dated to the year 1891. In addition to these paintings, only the miniatures for the Danish Palace Egg (1890) come from him . The gold ice stand is in the form of false wickerwork. It is no longer the original, even if stylistically it undoubtedly corresponds to the wicker, wicker and rattan furniture of the nineties. The stand was commissioned by the Hammer Galleries while they were in possession of the egg. Its exterior was based on the designs of the gold stand from Fabergé from this era, such as the stand on Peter the Great's egg from 1903 . The Caucasus egg is the first jewelry egg that was dated by the goldsmith. Of all the imperial ornamental eggs , besides the rosebud egg (1895), it was the only one that was held in red enamel. After the birth of Tsarevich Alexej , who suffered from haemophilia , this color was associated with the incurable royal disease and was then abandoned; only broken once during the production of the two Red Cross eggs in 1915.

Workshop manager: Michael Perchin
Characters: Fabergé, Michael Perchin, numeral 72 with crossed anchors and scepter
Material: four-color gold , silver , platinum, transparent ruby-colored enamel on a guilloche enamel background with a basket weave pattern, diamond roses, portrait or table diamonds, oriental natural pearls , ivory
Technique: Transparent ruby-colored guilloché enamel, watercolor on ivory, casting, chasing
Height: 9.2 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Alexander III. to his wife Maria Feodorovna; Hammer Galleries, New York; The Matilda Geddings Gray Foundation, New Orleans
Location: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, USA

Renaissance Egg (1894)

Resurrection Egg, Surprise of the Renaissance Egg (1894)

This egg is the last one that was opened by Tsar Alexander III. was given to his wife; the tsar died eight months after its completion. It is a replica of an egg-shaped jewelry box that was created by Le Roy in Amsterdam in 1700 and is now in the Green Vault in Dresden . Inside the egg, as a surprise, there was a resurrection statue of Christ presented in a transparent egg, which stood on an altar adorned with green cloth and attended by angels. The pedestal in the shape of an egg cup was made of gold and set with diamonds, different colored gemstones and pearls. The resurrection egg is not shown in the Wekselberg collection as a surprise from the Renaissance egg, but is shown separately from it and is therefore incorrectly named as another Fabergé egg.

Workshop manager: Michael Perchin
Characters: Fabergé, Michael Perchin, number 56 with anchors
Materials: white agate , gold, translucent green, red and blue enamel, opaque black and white enamel, diamonds, rubies
Length: 14.0 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Alexander III. to his wife Maria Feodorovna; Armand Hammer, New York; Mr. and Mrs. Henry Talbot de Vere Clifton, UK; La Vieille Russie, Paris; The Forbes Magazine Collection, New York
Remaining: Collection Wiktor Wekselberg

Blue clock egg with snake (1895)

The egg was still from Alexander III. commissioned, but only completed after his death and presented by his son and successor Nicholas II. It is made of multicolor gold, diamonds, translucent royal blue, and opalescent white enamel. A diamond-studded snake is rolled around the shaft, which supports the egg on a triangular base, with its head and tongue pointing towards the clock. The rotatable base shows one of three different front panels.

Workshop manager: Michael Perchin
Height: 18.3 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Alexander III. to his wife Maria Feodorovna; Australian Pearl Company; Wartski, London; Stavros Niarchos; Gift to Prince Rainier III. on the 25th anniversary of his accession to the Grimaldi throne.
Whereabouts: Prince Albert II of Monaco

Rosebud Egg (1895)

The rosebud egg , which had been missing for decades, was the first gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his wife Alexandra Feodorovna. The tip of the ice is crowned with a portrait of Nicholas II, while the year is set with diamonds at the base. Inside the egg there is a hinged yellow rosebud that originally contained two more surprises: a miniature copy of the imperial crown and an egg-shaped ruby pendant. Both were almost identical to the crown and pendant of the very first Imperial Easter egg and were also separated from the egg before the Soviets sold it in the 1920s. The whereabouts of the two smaller surprises is unknown today.

Workshop manager: Michael Perchin
Characters: Fabergé, Michael Perchin, number 56 with anchors
Material: shell: multicolored gold, translucent red and opaque white enamel, diamonds, velvet lining; Rosebud : gold, opaque green and yellow enamel
Technique: translucent enamel on a guilloche background, chasing
Height: 6.8 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his wife Alexandra Feodorovna; Wartski, London; Charles Parsons , England; Mr. and Mrs. Henry Talbot de Vere Clifton, England; The Fine Art Society , London; The Forbes Magazine Collection, New York
Remaining: Collection Wiktor Wekselberg

Purple Egg with 12 Monograms (1896)

The egg is made of translucent blue enamel, rose gold, rose diamonds, portrait diamonds, and velvet lining. The golden egg is covered with twelve panels, which are horizontally and vertically divided by ribbons with rose diamonds. The upper six segments with the imperial crown and the monograms "MF" (Maria Fjodorovna) are made and decorated from rose diamonds, the lower six segments in the same technique with the monograms "AIII" (Alexander III). The surprise inside the egg is lost, presumably there are 6 portraits of Alexander III mentioned on Fabergé's invoice.

Workshop manager: Michael Perchin
Height: 7.9 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his mother Maria Feodorovna; Marjorie Merriweather Post , General Foods heir
Location: Hillwood Museum, Washington DC, USA

Rock crystal egg with 12 miniatures (1896)

The egg is made of rock crystal, gold, rose diamonds, a cabochon emerald, translucent emerald green and orange, white and blue enamel. The two halves of the rock crystal ice are held together by narrow pink diamonds on an emerald green enamelled gold band. The tip is a 27 carat Siberian cabochon emerald. The egg is supported by a circular rock crystal base, which is surrounded by the monograms of Alexandra as princess and tsarina with their respective crowns. The twelve miniatures inside the egg are framed in gold and circle around a central shaft when the cabochon emerald is pressed on the tip. Each miniature represents a place of importance in the life of the tsars:

Neues Palais, Darmstadt, Germany
Jagdschloss Kranichstein in Hesse, Germany
Veste Coburg, Germany
Rosenau Castle, Coburg, Germany
Alexander Palace, Tsarskoye Selo, Russia
Anichkov Palace, St. Petersburg, Russia
Winter Palace, St. Petersburg, Russia
Wolfsgarten in Hessen, Germany
Cathcart House (and Church), Harrogate, UK
Windsor Palace, UK
Balmoral Castle in Scotland, UK
Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, UK

The miniatures are folded like the pages of a book so that two of the miniatures can be seen from the front.

Height: 24.8 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his wife Alexandra Feodorovna; Hammer Galleries, New York; Lillian Thomas Pratt , wife of the General Motors director
Location: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, USA

Mauve Egg with 3 Miniatures (1897)

Mauve Egg (1897, surprise only)

The egg is considered lost, the surprise is intact. It is located in a red heart with a monogram, which stands on a diamond-studded column-like base made of enamelled gold. The heart opens when the handle is pressed and then shows portraits of Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra Feodorovna and their first daughter, Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaievna Romanowa, embedded in green enamel and adorned with diamonds and guilloches . The portraits are cut in the shape of a three-leaf clover. After pressing a pearl in the base, the heart closes again.

A similar egg with an analogous surprise was made by Fabergé in 1902 as the Chalice Rocaille Egg.

Material: gold, diamonds, pearls
Technique: Transparent enamel coating on a guilloche background
Height of the surprise: 8.2 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his mother Maria Feodorovna
Whereabouts: egg: lost; Surprise: the Wiktor Wekselberg collection

Coronation Egg (1897)

The most expensive of all royal jewelry eggs was valued by Sotheby's at $ 24 million. The exterior of the egg that Tsar Nicholas II presented to his German wife Alexandra is modeled on the Tsarina's coronation mantle . A table diamond, under which the Tsarina's initials in diamond roses and rubies can be seen, adorns the tip of the egg. The year 1897 is set under a table diamond at the foot of the ice. As a surprise, the coronation egg contains a model of the carriage created by Georg Stein , in which Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna were driven after the coronation. It is made of gold, platinum and enamel and is set with various jewels. Originally a tiny egg, densely studded with diamonds, hung from the ceiling of the carriage. The attention to detail of the carriage goes so far that when the door is opened, even a small walkway unfolds.

Workshop manager: Michael Perchin, foreman: Henrik Wigström
Sign: Michael Perchin, number 56 with anchors, the name Wigström is lightly carved on the inside of the bowl.
Materials: shell: multicolor gold, translucent yellow and opaque black enamel, diamonds, velvet lining; Carriage: gold, platinum, strawberry-colored enamel, diamonds, rubies, rock crystal
Length: egg: 12.7 cm, surprise (carriage): 9.3 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his wife Alexandra Feodorovna; Acquired around 1927 from Emanuel Snowman for Wartski, London; The Forbes Magazine Collection, New York
Remaining: Collection Wiktor Wekselberg

Pelican Egg (1898)

The pelican egg is made of rose gold, diamonds, pearls, gray, pink and opalescent blue enamel and watercolor on ivory. The stand is made of multi-colored gold. The egg itself unfolds into eight ivory miniatures lined up next to one another. The egg is one of the few eggs that is not enameled over most of its surface, but consists partly of a red velvet shell. It is surmounted by a pelican that feeds the young in the nest. The pelican was Maria Feodorovna's personal symbol. Eight institutions are depicted on the oval miniatures:

St. Petersburg, Elisabeth Institute (founded 1808)
St. Petersburg, Nicholas Institute (founded 1837)
St. Petersburg, Catherine Institute (founded 1798)
St. Petersburg, Pavlovsky Institute (founded 1798)
St. Petersburg, Smolny Institute (founded 1764)
St. Petersburg, Patriotic Institute (founded 1802)
St. Petersburg, Xenia Institute (founded 1895)
Moscow Nicholas Orphanage Institute (founded 1837)

The pelican egg commemorates the centenary of the tsarist patronage of charities.

Workshop manager: Michael Perchin
Height: 13.3 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his mother Maria Feodorovna; Lillian Thomas Pratt, wife of the General Motors director
Location: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, USA

Lily of the valley egg (1898)

The lily of the valley egg is characterized by the Art Nouveau style. Fabergé also applied this style to his Objets d'art . The lily of the valley egg was exhibited at the 1900 World's Fair in Paris , while the Art Nouveau euphoria in Paris was at its height. The outer bowl is decorated with the young Tsarina’s favorite flowers and jewels (pearls and diamonds). The surprise inside consists of three miniature portraits created by Johannes Zehngraf of Tsar Nicholas II and his two eldest daughters, Grand Duchesses Olga and Tatjana, who emerge and unfold from inside at the tip of the ice by turning the pearl button. The date is engraved on the back of the miniatures.

Workshop manager: Michael Perchin
Sign: Michael Perchin, numeral 56 with anchors
Material: gold, translucent pink and green enamel, diamonds, rubies, pearls, rock crystal, ivory
Technique: Transparent enamel coating on a guilloche background, chasing, painting on ivory
Height: egg closed: 15.1 cm, egg open: 19.9 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his wife Alexandra Feodorovna; The Forbes Magazine Collection, New York
Remaining: Collection Wiktor Wekselberg

Hen egg (1898), 1st calyx egg

Hen egg, (1st chalice egg, 1898)

The egg is made of gold, rose and portrait diamonds, translucent strawberry red, opaque white and dull yellow enamel, and suede lining. The egg, engine-turned in translucent strawberry red, opens horizontally and presents the surprise hidden inside. This consists of a suede-lined interior with a hen made of gold and shades of yellow, orange, red and brown translucent. The feathers shimmer whitish, the eyes are set with diamonds. The hen, on the other hand, can be opened at the tail and presents a golden miniature easel with a frame made of rose diamonds. The opened easel originally showed the monogram "BK" and the portrait of Barbara Kelch. Both were replaced in the 1930s by the owner at the time with the monogram of Tsar Nicholas II and a portrait of Tsarevich Alexei in the uniform of the Fourth Rifle Battalion.

Length: egg: 8.4 cm, hen: 4.8 cm
Provenance: Gift from Alexander Kelch to his wife Barbara Kelch-Bazanova ; A La Vieille Russie, Paris; The Forbes Magazine Collection, New York
Remaining: Collection Wiktor Wekselberg

Pansy Egg (1899)

Surprise in the Pansy Egg (1899)

The egg is made of nephrite, gold-plated silver, diamonds, white, red, green and opaque purple enamel. It stands on a foot of twisted, golden leaves from which five pansy flowers and five buds climb up the egg. Flowers and buds shimmer in various enameled shades of purple. The upper part of the egg can be opened and reveals the surprise it contains. This consists of a gold miniature easel with a diamond-adorned, white enamel heart, on which eleven oval medallions made of strawberry-red enamel are visible. Each medallion can be opened and carries a portrait of a member of the imperial family. The depicted are from top to bottom and from left to right:

Grand Duke Georg (younger brother of Tsar Nicholas II)
Grand Duke Alexander (consort of the Tsar's sister, Grand Duchess Xenia)
Tsar Nicholas II
Grand Duchess Irina, later Princess Jussupow (daughter of Grand Duke Alexander and Grand Duchess Xenia)
Grand Duchess Olga (eldest daughter of the Tsar)
Grand Duchess Tatjana (second daughter of the Tsar)
Grand Duke Michael (youngest brother of Tsar Nicholas II)
Tsarina Alexandra
Grand Duke Andrei (brother of Grand Duchess Irina)
Grand Duchess Olga (youngest sister of Tsar Nicholas II)
Grand Duchess Xenia (younger sister of Tsar Nicholas II)

The closed medallions show the gold monograms of the eleven members of the imperial family depicted.

Workshop manager: Michael Perchin
Characters: digit 88, kokoshnik
Material: nephrite, gold-plated silver, diamonds
Technique: guilloché
Height: 14.6 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his mother Maria Feodorovna; Hammer Galleries, 1930s; Mrs. Harold Matilda Gray Stream, New Orleans, USA as a wedding present to her niece
Location: Private collection, presumably niece of Mrs. Harold Stream, New Orleans (Louisiana), USA

Madonna Lily Egg (1899)

The clock standing on a rectangular base is decorated with yellow gold, translucent enamel on a guilloche background. The clock, for its part, is crowned by a delicate bouquet of lilies made from onyx . The pistils are set with small diamonds, the leaves and stems are made of colored gold. The body of the watch is divided into twelve sections by diamond-adorned bands. The arrow-shaped pointer, which is also set with diamonds, is firmly anchored in the base. An enamel band with twelve diamond-adorned Roman numerals rotates around the perimeter of the egg, thereby indicating the exact time. The base adorned with rosettes bears the production year 1899 set in diamonds. The clockwork is wound with a golden key.

Workshop manager: Michael Perchin
Marks: Fabergé, Michael Perchin, hallmark St. Petersburg with the initials of the inspector Inspector Yakow Lyapunow = YL, Standard 56
Material: gold, platinum, silver, rosettes, onyx
Technique: casting, embossing, enamel, guilloché
Height: 27.0 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his wife Alexandra Feodorovna
Location: Kremlin Armory, Moscow (inventory no. MP-653 / I-2)

12-panel egg (1899), 2nd chalice egg

The egg is made of yellow gold, rose diamonds, portrait diamonds, translucent pink and green enamel, and opaque white enamel. The top and bottom of the egg are each divided into six panels of matt refined gold, overlaid with rows of pink enamel roses with gold stems and translucent green leaves. A band of rose diamonds, decorated at intervals as rosettes of additional diamonds, surrounds the egg in the middle. The ends of the egg are finished with concentric circles of diamonds, gold and green enamelled leaf motifs, and pink enamel. A medallion at the top shows the initials BPK under a portrait diamond, at the bottom a smaller medallion bears the year 1899. The surprise originally contained inside is unknown and lost.

Of the seven goblet eggs, six were sold by Varwara Kelch-Bazanova through the Morgan jeweler in 1920 to “A La Vieille Russie, Paris”. Only the 12-panel egg stayed with the owner for a few years until she sold it directly to “A La Vieille Russie”.

Height: 9.5 cm
Provenance: Gift from Alexander Kelch to his wife Barbara Kelch-Bazanova , A La Vieille Russie, Paris; King George V of England for Queen Mary of England
Location: Royal Collection HM Queen Elisabeth II., London, UK

Cuckoo Egg (1900)

The baroque cuckoo egg in the form of a table clock is one of six eggs with built-in music box technology. At the push of a button, the lid on the tip of the ice opens and a small bird crowing and flapping its wings appears. The songbird mechanism in the cuckoo egg is simple and is activated independently of the clockwork by pressing a button. The bird then appears, which looks more like a rooster than a cuckoo, moves its beak and wings and makes sounds through a bellows mechanism.

Workshop manager: Michael Perchin
Characters: Fabergé, Michael Perchin, number 56, Kokoschnik
Material: multicolored gold, translucent purple and green enamel, opalescent white oyster enamel, opaque purple enamel, diamonds, rubies, pearls, feathers
Technique: Transparent and opalescent enamel coating on a guilloché background, chasing, filigree
Height: 20.3 cm (when open)
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his mother Maria Feodorovna; The Forbes Magazine Collection, New York
Remaining: Collection Wiktor Wekselberg

Egg with the Trans-Siberian Railway (1900)

A silver egg with a hinged lid, adorned with colored enamel, standing on a white onyx base. The central silver band is engraved with the route of the Trans-Siberian Railway and the inscription: Great Siberian Railway in 1900. The lid of the egg is covered with green enamel and decorated with inlaid acanthus leaves. The egg is crowned by a three-headed imperial eagle made of silver and gold, which holds up a crown. The whole is carried by three griffins cast from gold-plated silver with sword and shield. The three-sided base is made of white onyx, with concave sides and rounded corners. A gold-plated silver band has been worked into the base. The three-part miniature train as a surprise inside the ice consists of a platinum locomotive with ruby headlights and diamond taillights and five gold wagons with rock crystal windows. The first four wagons are labeled Post, Only for women, smokers and non-smokers. The last carriage is designed as an Orthodox chapel . The mechanism of the train is wound up by a golden key and lets the unfolded train roll.

Workshop manager: Michael Perchin
Marks: Fabergé, Michael Perchin, hallmark St. Petersburg with initials of the inspector Yakow Lyapunow = YL, standard 56
Material: gold, platinum, colored gold, silver, rosettes, rubies, onyx, crystal
Technique: casting, enamel, engraving, filigree, guilloché
Height: 26.0 cm, length of the train: 39.8 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his wife Alexandra Feodorovna
Remaining: Kremlin Armory, Moscow

Pine cone egg (1900), 3rd chalice egg

The egg consists of gold, silver, rose-cut diamonds, brilliant-cut diamonds and translucent royal blue enamel, the surprise inside of gold, silver, ivory, rose diamonds and red and green enamel. The egg is designed as a pine cone, a symbol of the resurrection, and adorned with four flower-shaped portrait diamonds arranged in a square, which enclose the year 1900. The lower end is decorated with a portrait diamond. The opened eggshell reveals an oxidized Indian elephant with ivory tusks in a velvet-covered compartment. A mahout with a turban and riding crop sits on a fringed red and green gold cloth. The two ends of the cloth are each set with three diamonds, one of which covers a keyhole. When the elephant's automatic system is wound up with a gold key, it moves forward, shifting its weight from side to side, turning its head and wagging its tail.

Height: 9.5 cm
Provenance: Gift from Alexander Kelch to his wife Barbara Kelch-Bazanova; A La Vieille Russie, Paris; Joan Kroc , widow of McDonalds founder Ray Kroc
Location: Collection Joan Kroc, San Diego, USA

Gatchina Palace Egg (1901)

The egg is made of four-color gold, opalescent white enamel, opaque red, yellow and green enamel, diamonds, pearls and velvet lining. The egg is divided into twelve panels by rows of pearls with diamonds at the ends. It is enamelled in opalescent white, surrounded by green and gold leaves, pink roses and red ribbons. The miniature palace as a surprise inside the egg is made of four-color gold and can be removed. This is so meticulously executed that you can see details such as cannons, a flag, a statue of Tsar Paul I and elements of the landscape in front of the palace.

The egg was rediscovered in 1931 when after the death of Henry Walters 243 boxes with art objects that had been locked in the cellar were opened.

Workshop manager: Michael Perchin
Height: 12.7 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his mother Maria Feodorovna; Alexander Polovtsov, official of the Kerensky interim government and from 1921 antique dealer in Paris
Location: The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, USA

Basket with Wildflowers Egg (1901)

The egg consists of silver, gilded, opalescent oyster enamel and dark blue enamel, rose diamonds, green gold, seed pearls and the flowers of opaque, colorful enamel. The silver flower basket is completely covered in opalescent oyster melt, adorned with a latticework of rose diamonds. The date 1901 on the top of the basket is also made of rose diamonds. The base of the basket was restored after the Russian Revolution and is now made of blue instead of white enamel. The flowers are made of gold and covered with a variety of colored enamels, predominantly pink, white, dark blue, orange and mauve. Seed pearls are inserted between the flowers, some of which are still present today. The basket is finished with a diamond-studded handle.

Workshop manager: Michael Perchin
Height: 23.0 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his wife Alexandra Feodorovna; Wartski, London; Australian Pearl Company; Queen Mary, UK
Location: Royal Collection HM Queen Elizabeth II., London, UK

Apple blossom egg (1901), 4th chalice egg

Apple blossom egg (4th chalice egg, 1901)

The apple blossom egg is a gift from Alexander Kelch to his wife. The egg, which was designed as a jewelry box, stands out due to its lying position. It is also very large, often referred to as the largest Fabergé egg. With its Japanese-influenced decor, the egg is also stylistically out of line. The egg shell is made of nephrite and is supported by four golden feet in the form of branches, which merge into decorations of the outer shell. The apple blossoms as a decoration are made of enamel and are equipped with diamonds. The contents of the egg were lost.

As part of the collection of Adulf Peter Goop (1921–2011), it went to the Principality of Liechtenstein in 2010 , where it has been on display in the treasury in Vaduz since 2015 .

Workshop manager: Michael Perchin
Material: gold, diamonds, nephrite, enamel.
Height: 11.5 cm
Length: 14.0 cm
Provenance: Gift from Alexander Kelch to his wife Barbara Kelch-Bazanova
Location: Liechtenstein National Museum , Vaduz

Empire / nephrite egg (1902)

Empire Nephrite Egg (1902)

The egg was considered lost, but was successfully authenticated in 2015 as part of the research.

The information about this work of art was extremely scarce until the early 2000s and was mainly based on guesswork. In fact, only the year the egg was made, its first owner and proof of purchase were available. This egg came into the hands of the researchers as a surprise, even without an interior picture, and they had to determine whose portrait could be shown on the miniature.

For years, the experts could not come to a clear opinion on this Easter egg until a real breakthrough in the elaboration of the topic was achieved in 2015. This happened thanks to the discovery and research of a unique source - the "List of personal belongings of Empress-widow Maria Feodorovna kept in Gatchina Castle". This 12-page document describes 150 different objects that belonged to Empress Maria Feodorovna, including the imperial Easter egg "Empire" from 1902 (number 10 on the second page of the original). The entry reads as follows: "The egg in a golden frame on two nephrite columns, inside the portraits of Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna and Prince PA von Oldenburg". This description is the most accurate of those currently available. This was the case with the miniature portrait of Alexander III. mistakenly as a surprise egg.

Technique: watercolor on ivory
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his mother Maria Feodorovna
Current location: Private collection, New York, USA

Shamrock Egg (1902)

The egg is made of green gold, platinum, rose diamonds and rubies. A simple, but very narrow and fragile, pattern of stems and clover leaves gives the shape of an egg, it seems to be woven from tiny golden threads. The gaps between the metal outlines of the leaves are covered with transparent, light green enamel. A very thin golden band with ruby curls runs through the leaves and stems. The edges at which the two halves of the egg open are almost completely covered by cleverly placed shamrocks. The egg stands in a three-legged, gold-colored bracket made of shamrocks and curved stems with inwardly curved leaves.

The surprise inside the egg is lost, it probably consisted of gold, diamonds, and watercolor on ivory. Archival material suggests four clovers with 23 diamonds and four miniature portraits of the tsar's daughters.

Workshop manager: Michael Perchin
Height: 8.9 cm, with stand 9.8 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his wife Alexandra Feodorovna
Location: Kremlin Armory, Moscow, Russia

Rococo egg (1902), 5th chalice egg

Rococo egg (5th chalice egg, 1902)

The egg is made of gold, platinum, rose diamonds, translucent green enamel, and silk lining. Supported by three scrolled feet, the egg is adorned with golden rococo decorations, platinum blossoms with diamonds and colorful, diamond-studded golden palms. The surprise inside is a gold tripod with a heart-enameled, translucent rose on top. It shows the diamond initials BK (Barbara Kelch) on one side and the year 1902 on the other.

Length: 14.2 cm, height: 12.0 cm
Provenance: Gift from Alexander Kelch to his wife Barbara Kelch-Bazanova; A La Vieille Russie, Paris
Location: McFerrin Collection, Houston, USA

Marlborough Egg (1902), 1st private contract egg

Marlborough Egg (1902) "non-imperial"

Also known as the Pink Snake Watch Egg, the egg is made of colored gold, pink diamonds, pearls, and translucent pink and white enamel. It is very similar to the “Blue Clock Egg with Snake” from 1895 and is one of several, albeit less valuable, versions from Michael Perchin's workshop. It is made of translucent enamelled pink on a guilloché base, in the middle a white enamel ring with twelve Roman hour numerals made of diamonds surrounds the egg. A diamond snake surrounds the base of the egg and points to the hour with its tongue. The three sides of the base are made of translucent oyster enamel. One side shows the initials "CM" under a crown for Consuelo Marlborough , the granddaughter of Cornelius Vanderbilt , who married the 9th Duke of Marlborough in 1894. The second side is adorned with a colorful gold horn, the third side with colorful gold love trophies.

Height: 23.5 cm
Provenance: Bought from the Duchess of Marlborough; Ganna Walska , wife of Harold Fowler McCormick, Chicago; The Forbes Magazine Collection, New York
Remaining: Collection Wiktor Wekselberg

Rothschild egg (1902), 2nd privately commissioned egg

Rothschild egg (1902) "non-imperial"

The Rothschild egg is one of the 11 well-known Fabergé eggs that were produced according to court standards, but explicitly for private individuals outside the tsarist family. The egg passed into the family ownership of the Rothschild family, where it remained until 2007 without being publicly exhibited or photographed. It changed hands at an auction by Christie's auction house in 2007 for 12.5 million euros. That was the highest price ever paid for a piece of Russian handicraft. It initially remained in the private possession of the buyer, the Russian collector Alexander Nikolajewitsch Iwanow , and was temporarily exhibited in the Fabergé Museum Baden-Baden . Ivanov donated it to the Russian government in 2014. Russian President Putin, in turn, presented the egg as a gift at the anniversary reception for the 250th anniversary of the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg . In the run-up to this, there was a campaign by the British and German tax investigators with a positive impact on the press with regard to potential VAT.

The pink egg made of enamel with gold decorations rests on an "egg cup", which in turn is attached to a pedestal. There is a clock on the front, and the egg is crowned by its surprise, an automatic cock made of precious stones inside the egg, hidden with a lid under the tip. The lid opens, the rooster comes out, spreads its wings and flutters four times, then three times with its head bowed, then opens its beak and sings (songbird mechanism). This is repeated every hour; Duration of the "performance" 15 seconds. After this concert a bell strikes the beginning of the hour.

Except for its pink color, the Rothschild egg is very similar to the later “Chalice Rooster Egg” (1904), the largest of the Fabergé Easter eggs that belongs to the Kremlin Museum.

Workshop manager: Michael Perchin
Characters: Fabergé
Material: multicolor gold, enamel, diamonds, pearls, precious stones
Height: 27.0 cm
Provenance: Gift from Béatrice Ephrussi (1864–1934) , née Rothschild, to Germaine Halphen (1884–1975) on her engagement in 1902 to Beatrice's brother Baron Edouard de Rothschild. Family owned until 2007. Bought at Christie's by Russian collector Alexander Nikolajewitsch Ivanov and given away to the Russian government in 2014.
Location: Hermitage in Saint Petersburg

Royal Danish Egg (1903)

Royal Danish Egg (1903, photo)

The egg was commissioned by Tsar Nicholas II to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the father of the Tsar's mother, but it also became a memento of the mother of the Tsar's mother, Louise von Hessen-Kassel , Queen of Denmark, who died in 1898 . The egg is made in light blue and white enamel with ornaments in gold and precious stones. It stands on a gilded foot that is placed on a pedestal and is therefore one of Faberge's larger eggs. On the top are the important family crests of the Danish royal family, which are supported by Danish heraldic lions. The top is crowned by the traditional and oldest Danish elephant order.

As a surprise, the egg contains miniature portraits of Christian IX attached to its own pedestal, which can be removed after opening the upper half of the egg . von Denmark and his wife, Louise von Hessen-Kassel, the parents of the Tsar's mother, Maria Fjodorovna.

The egg is missing, but there is a photo from the early 20th century.

Height: approx. 27.5 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his mother Maria Feodorovna; Alexander Polovtsov, official of the Kerensky interim government
Whereabouts: lost

Egg Peter the Great (1903)

The egg is made of red, green and yellow gold, platinum, rose diamonds, square rubies, translucent yellow and opaque white enamel, rock crystal and watercolor on ivory. The gold arches in the extravagant Rococo style are set with diamonds and rubies. The dates 1703 and 1903 in rose diamonds appear on both sides of the lid. Four miniatures by Vasili Zuiev show Peter the Great, the wooden hut he built himself, Nicholas II and the Winter Palace. The surprise is a miniature model in gold of the famous statue of Peter the Great on the Neva; it stands on a sapphire base. The closure of the egg is designed as a Romanov double-headed eagle.

Workshop manager: Michael Perchin
Height: 11.1 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his wife Alexandra Feodorovna; Lillian Thomas Pratt, wife of the General Motors director
Location: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, USA

Bonbonnière egg (1903), 6th chalice egg

The egg is made of gold, rose diamonds, chalcedony, paillons, green garnets, seed pearls, translucent white enamel, and velvet lining. Above a moiré guilloché base, the translucent, white enameled egg is divided into twelve segments by gold ribbons with alternating demantoid garnets and seed pearls. Each end is adorned with a cabochon stone surrounded by rose diamonds. The twelve segments are decorated with paillons in a neoclassical style. The egg opens to reveal a velvet-lined compartment with an oval agate bonbonnière and a gold pendant. The cover with a rectangular cut portrait diamond shows the enamelled year 1903.

Height: 12.7 cm
Provenance: Gift from Alexander Kelch to his wife Barbara Kelch-Bazanova; A La Vieille Russie, Paris; Christie's, New York
Whereabouts: estate of the late Kerry Packer , Australia

Chicken egg (1904), 7th chalice egg

Chicken egg (7th chalice egg, 1904)

The egg is a gift from Alexander Kelch to his wife. It is made of gold, green gold, rose gold, silver, pearls, rose diamonds, blue, white and green enamel. The egg is covered with royal blue enamel and adorned with green and red garlands on top. The watch with a white enamel dial is tied to the egg with rose gold straps and a pearl belt. The ice tip is a gold rosette and can be opened to present the surprise, a brightly enamelled gold chicken with numerous diamonds. The chicken crows the full hours and the head wings and beak move. On the back of the egg there is a round gold door as access to the complex mechanism. The base is a square base with concave sides in enamelled, translucent royal blue.

Height: 27.7 cm
Provenance: Gift from Alexander Kelch to his wife Barbara Kelch-Bazanova; A La Vieille Russie, Paris
Remaining: Collection Wiktor Wekselberg

Swan's Egg (1906)

The egg is made of gold, matt opaque mauve enamel, rose diamonds and two large portrait diamonds. The golden egg is covered with matte, mauve enamel and a twisted ribbon grid of rose diamonds. It opens from the upper half along a rose lattice and is finished with a large portrait diamond at the top. Raised by a handle made of water lilies in four-color gold, the egg opens and, as a surprise, reveals a miniature lake made of a large aquamarine on which an elaborately crafted swan made of gold and silver rests. When the mechanics under the wing is wound up, the swan strides forward and begins to spread its wings, showing every feather. The head and neck rise proudly and then come back to rest.

Workshop manager: Henrik Wigström
Height: 10.0 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his mother Maria Feodorovna; Wartski, London; King Farouk of Egypt; A La Vieille Russie, New York
Where to go: Fondation Edouard et Maurice Sandoz, Lausanne, Switzerland

Moscow Kremlin Egg (1906)

Moscow Kremlin Egg / Egg with Dormition Cathedral (1906)

The largest and most elaborate Fabergé egg is the Uspensky Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin, where all Russian tsars were crowned. Flanked by two square and two circular, stylized towers of the cathedral, the egg made of white opalescent enamel is embedded in the center and surmounted by a gold composition as a dome. A carillon sounds in two of the four towers. The inside of the egg is visible through glass windows and shows tiny enameled icons and the high altar on a glass plate. When a mechanical clockwork is wound by a two-and-a-half inch key, traditional Easter carols can be heard. The egg rests on an octagonal, white onyx base with a gold plate and the engraved date of manufacture 1904. The delivery and invoicing was delayed due to the Russo-Japanese War in 1906. The Moscow Kremlin egg was never sold and is one of the ten Fabergé eggs in the Kremlin Arms Museum in Moscow.

Workshop manager: Henrik Wigström
Height: 36.1 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his wife Alexandra Feodorovna
Location: Kremlin Armory, Moscow, Russia

Egg with love trophies (1907)

The egg with love trophies is a Louis XVI style creation . It is crowned by a golden basket with enamelled roses and framed by quiver arrows connected with four garlands of leaves and roses. The original surprise, an enameled miniature gold frame in the shape of a heart with a crossbar forming the name of Niki and a portrait of the five children, has been lost.

Workshop manager: Henrik Wigström
Characters: Henrik Wigström, Kokoschnik
Material: multicolored gold, translucent pale blue and green enamel, opalescent oyster enamel, diamonds, rubies, pearls, white onyx
Technique: Transparent and opalescent enamel coating on a guilloche background, chasing
Height: 14.7 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his mother Maria Fyodorewna; Alexander Polovtsov, official of the Kerensky interim government and from 1921 antique dealer in Paris
Location: Private collection, probably Robert M. Lee, Reno (Nevada), USA

Rose espalier egg (1907)

The egg is made of green and pink gold of various shades, portrait diamonds, rose diamonds, and satin lining. It is a golden Easter egg and latticed with translucent, light green and pink diamonds and decorated with opaque light and dark pink enamel roses and emerald green leaves. A portrait diamond is set at both ends of the egg, the diamond at the base covers the year 1907. The surprise contained in the egg is lost. Fabergé's bill describes it as “a chain of diamonds with a medallion and a portrait of His Imperial Highness Tsarevich Alexei painted on ivory”. The silver-gilt stand on which the egg rested is also lost.

Workshop manager: Henrik Wigström
Height: 7.7 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his wife Alexandra Feodorovna; Alexander Polovtsov, Moscow, later Paris; Henry Walters, Baltimore
Location: The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, USA

Yusupov egg (1907), 3rd privately commissioned egg

The egg is made of yellow and red gold, rose diamonds, emeralds, pearls, rubies, white onyx, translucent enamel in raspberry pink and opaque white enamel. Made as a table clock in Louis XVI style , it shows a rotating white enamel dial with diamond-set Roman numerals and stands on three pilasters with lion paw feet. A coiled diamond serpent points its head and tongue to the time. The three laurel wreaths hung on the egg originally contained oval medallions with the miniatures of Prince Felix Jussupow and his sons Felix and Nikolaus. The miniatures were replaced by the later owner Maurice Sandoz with his initials in gold letters.

Felix Jussupow presented the egg to his wife Sinaida on the occasion of their 25th wedding anniversary. Felix Elston-Sumarokow received permission from the tsar to take the name Yusupov of his wife, otherwise the name of one of the oldest and richest families in Russia would have died out. Felix and Sinaida Yusupov's son, Felix Yusupov , was part of a group of conspirators who murdered Grigory Rasputin on December 16, 1916.

Height: 27.0 cm
Provenance: Gift from Prince Felix Jussupow to his wife Sinaida
Where to go: Fondation Edouard et Maurice Sandoz, Lausanne, Switzerland

Peacock Egg (1908)

The peacock egg , designed in the Rococo style, consists of two halves made of cut rock crystal. Maria Fjodorovna's monogram is engraved in the middle on one half and the year 1908 on the other. Engraved rocailles run along the golden frame . The egg lies on a stand also made of rocailles. The surprise inside is a mechanical peacock sitting on a tree. The peacock is made of gold with enamel. The mechanism was overhauled in 2008. When the peacock is reared, it begins to stride forward, move its head and open and close its tail feathers. The peacock took three years to develop. The inspiration is a clock from the 18th century, which Catherine the Great received as a gift and which also depicts a peacock sitting on a tree. It is now on display in the Hermitage.

Workshop manager: Henrik Wigström, Pfau: design Semion Dorofeev
Material: gold, silver, diamonds, rubies, rock crystal, enamel
Height: 19.0 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his mother Maria Feodorovna; Wartski, London
Where to go: Fondation Edouard et Maurice Sandoz, Lausanne, Switzerland

Alexander Palace Egg (1908)

This imperial Easter egg is a nephrite egg with five miniature portraits of the children of Tsar Nicholas II; as a surprise inside there is a three-dimensional replica of the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo . The upper and lower part of the egg is each set with a rectangular diamond and bears the monogram AF (Alexandra Fjodorovna), or the year 1908. The diamonds are surrounded by inlays in the form of golden wreaths of diamond and ruby-set leaves and flowers. Five diamond-studded ribbons stretch across the outer shell and are connected to one another by golden garlands with inlaid ruby roses. In the resulting sections there are five medallions with the portraits of the children of the tsarist couple, executed in watercolor on ivory and framed by diamonds. Each of the portraits is crowned by a diamond monogram with the initials of the child depicted. Under the medallions hang two golden twigs woven into a loop. On the back of the portraits, inside the egg, is the engraved (Julian) date of birth of each child, each decorated with two ornamental branches:

Olga - November 03, 1895
Tatiana - May 29, 1897
Maria - June 14, 1899
Anastasia - June 05, 1901
Alexei - July 30, 1904

As a surprise there is a miniature replica of the Alexander Palace with its gardens inside the egg. It is made of colored gold and enamel and rests on a round pedestal with five high legs, which are connected to each other at the lower end. The base bears the inscription adorned with a laurel wreath: The Alexander Palace in Tsarkoe Selo.

Workshop manager: Henrik Wigström
Marks: Fabergé, Henrik Wigström, hallmark St. Petersburg with the initials of the inspector Yakow Lyapunow = YL, Standard 72
Material: gold, silver, diamonds, rosettes, rubies, nephrite, rock crystal, ivory
Height: 11.0 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his wife Alexandra Feodorovna
Location: Kremlin Armory, Moscow (inventory number: MR 648)

Alexander III Memorial egg (1909)

Alexander III Memorial egg (1909, photo)

The egg was made in memory of Tsar Alexander III, who died in 1894. designed. It is made on a dark blue enamel background, which is decorated with typical patterns. Dark blue was the color of Tsar Alexander III's preferred uniform. The egg is divided into two halves with six segments each with diamond bands. The monograms of the tsar and his wife are incorporated in the lower area and the tsar's crowns in the upper area. At the tip of the egg, a large diamond is framed by a diamond circle. The bill for this egg is said to have been paid half by Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra Feodorovna as an expression of their mutuality.

The Alexander III. Memorial egg is one of the lost imperial Easter eggs and one of the two that have a photo.

Characters: Fabergé
Materials: gold, diamonds
Technique: enamel
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra Feodorovna to the Tsar's mother Maria Fyodorovna
Whereabouts: lost

Standard Egg (1909)

Standard egg (1900)

This is a crystal egg with a horizontal gold border and the Russian inscription Standart 1909 on the shell. A gold band with inlaid leaves of green enamel and small diamonds is drawn around the egg. The lower half of the horizontally lying egg was decorated with a vertical gold band with inlaid patterns. On both sides of the egg there is a crowned eagle made of lapis lazuli, both of which carry a freely swinging pear-shaped pearl in their claws. The base is formed by two intertwined dolphins made of lapis lazuli. The oval rock crystal base has a wide white enamel band with inlaid bay leaves and several bands made of small diamonds with laurel branches made of green enamel. Inside the ice, a golden, true-to-original replica of the imperial yacht Standart rests on an oval base made of rock crystal, which suggests the sea. On the yacht, the cannons, the rigging and the anchor chains are made movable.

Workshop manager: Henrik Wigström
Marks: Fabergé, Henrik Wigström, hallmark Jakow Lyapunov St. Petersburg, Standard 72
Materials: gold, diamonds, pearls, lapis lazuli, rock crystal
Technique: enamel
Height: 15.3 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his wife Alexandra Feodorovna
Location: Kremlin Armory, Moscow (inventory number: MR-649 / I-2)

Egg with equestrian statue of Alexander III. (1910)

Inside the egg is a gold replica of an equestrian monument to Alexander III. on a rectangular lapis lazuli base garnished with two rose ribbons. The miniature monument rests in an egg carved from rock crystal, the outer shell of which is covered with platinum- coated filigree interspersed with roses . The miniature is a replica of the monument created by Prince Pavel Trubetskoi . The tip of the ice is crowned by a large table diamond under which the year 1910 is engraved. The diamond is surrounded by a band of small roses, from which acanthus platinum leaves spread out like a rosette. On either side of the bowl are double-headed platinum eagles with small diamond crowns. Patterns of twigs are engraved in the bowl, which unite at the lower part. The lower part of the egg serves as a platform for the miniature monument and is supported by cast platinum volutes with cherubim heads. These rest on a rock crystal base in the shape of a four-leaf rosette. On the invoice of April 17, 1910, this egg is listed as “Large egg made of engraved topaz in a massive platinum mount in the Renaissance style, on a similar top made of the same topaz , 1318 diamond roses and 1 large diamond. Inside a matt gold equestrian statue of Tsar Alexander III standing on a lapis lazuli pedestal, in St. Petersburg, July 12, 1910 [price] 14700r. "

Characters: K. Fabergé
Materials: gold, platinum, diamonds, lapis lazuli, rock crystal
Technique: casting, embossing, engraving
Height: 15.5 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his mother Maria Feodorovna
Location: Kremlin Armory, Moscow (inventory number: MR-650 / I-3)

Colonnade Egg (1910)

This rotation clock, which looks like an Arcadian love temple, is reminiscent of the long-awaited birth of the heir to the throne Alexei Nikolajewitsch Romanov in 1904. The actual egg is crowned by a cupid made of gold-plated silver (an allegorical representation of the Tsarevich). The bowl is made of opalescent pale pink enamel on a guilloche background and has a wide band of translucent white enamel as the dial, which is set with diamond rose numbers. A diamond-studded pointer protrudes from the colonnade of pale green bowenite on which the egg rests. The colonnade is made up of six Ionic columns set in gold , its base has six chiseled fittings made of colored gold and a wide band of pale pink enamel on a guilloche background. Around the artfully crafted round base are grouped four girl figures made of gilded silver, representing the four daughters of the tsar; they are connected to one another by means of flower garlands made of chased four-color gold. The tsarist couple, symbolized by two platinum doves, sit inside the column wreath on a plinth made of white enamel. Sir Sacherverell Sitwell pointed out that the design of this ice cream probably goes back to Charles Eisen's illustrations for Les Baisers by Claude Joseph Dorat .

Workshop manager: Henrik Wigström
Characters: Henrik Wigström, 56 Kokoschnik
Material: bowenite , four-color gold, diamond roses, gold-plated silver, platinum
Technique: enamel, engraving, casting, chasing
Height: 28.6 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his wife Alexandra Feodorovna; Acquired in 1929 by Queen Mary, England
Location: Royal Collection HM Elizabeth II., London, UK

Orange tree egg / laurel tree egg (1911)

Orange Tree Egg (1911)

The egg consists of gold, green and white enamel, nephrite, diamonds, rubies, amethysts, citrine (yellow rock crystal), pearls and white onyx. The foliage of the tree is made up of an abundance of finely veined leaves made of carved nephrite. The fruits consist of champagne diamonds, amethysts and citrines, the flowers of white enamel with diamonds. The trunk is planted in gold earth and stands in a white, square quartz tub, which is decorated with berry-colored laurel, rubies, diamonds and gold rosettes. When turning a certain ruby, the tip of the egg opens and a small mechanical bird comes out singing. A songbird tree from the 18th century was the model for the egg, of which several documented specimens exist. Such songbird trees were already known and loved in art in the 16th century. On Fabergé's bill, the egg is described as "in the form of a laurel tree", but botanically it is an orange tree. The pointed, nephrite-colored leaves and fruits clearly do not belong to a bay tree whose berries are smaller. Valuable citrus trees were usually planted in rectangular tubs for wintering, which also confirms the correct naming as an orange tree.

Foreman: unknown (no foreman mark)
Characters: Fabergé, number 2990
Height: 30.0 cm (when open)
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his mother Maria Feodorovna; Wartski London; AG Hughes; Arthur E. Bradshaw; W. Magalow; Maurice Sandoz, Switzerland; A la Vieille Russie, Inc., New York; Mildred Kaplan, New York; The Forbes Magazine Collection, New York
Remaining: Collection Wiktor Wekselberg

15th Anniversary Egg (1911)

The egg was created on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the throne of Nicholas II and is covered with eighteen miniatures by Vasili Zuiev , which are divided by diamond-studded bands and framed behind rock crystal. Seven oval portrait miniatures show the tsarist couple and their five children. Under the two portraits of Nicholas and Alexandra are two oval panels with the date 1894, the year of the wedding of the tsarist couple on 14/26. November, and the year 1911, the 15th anniversary of the coronation. Nine miniatures show historical scenes from the reign of Nicholas II and his wife: the solemn procession to the Uspensky Cathedral , the coronation ceremony, the solemn reception of the First State Duma in the Winter Palace, the handing over of the relics of St. Seraphim von Sarov , the opening of the Alexander III Bridge in Paris, the opening of the monument to the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Poltava , the Huis ten Bosch in The Hague as the location of the first peace conference , the opening of Alexander III. Museum in St. Petersburg and the unveiling of the statue of Peter the Great in Riga. Of all the imperial pomps, this egg best expresses a number of both very private family moments and public achievements of the tsarist couple.

Workshop manager: Henrik Wigström
Characters: Fabergé, Henrik Wigström, 72 Kokoschnik
Materials: gold, translucent green, opaque white and opalescent oyster enamel, diamonds, rock crystal, ivory
Technique: Transparent and opaque enamel, opalescent enamel coating on a guilloche background, chasing, painting on ivory
Height: 13.2 cm (without stand)
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his wife Alexandra Feodorovna; The Forbes Magazine Collection, New York
Remaining: Collection Wiktor Wekselberg

Napoleonic egg (1912)

The empire- style egg is divided into green guilloché enamel fields by six vertical and four horizontal double bands of diamond roses, between which gold laurel borders run, and commemorates the victory over Napoleon 100 years earlier. The six central fields have embossed and cast gold applications, alternating between the imperial double-headed eagle and war trophies. On the bands above and below the middle fields there are alternating rosettes made of diamond roses and round ornaments made of red enamel, with traditional leaf and rocaille applications in between. The tip of the egg is decorated with diamond-set borders with sunbeam motifs, in the center a table diamond with a crown and the monogram of the Tsar's widow MF. At the bottom there is a smaller diamond with the year 1912. The egg, which can be opened in the middle, contains a six-part, octagonal folding frame with miniatures of the regiments of the Tsar's mother, signed and dated by Vasili Zuiev to the year 1912. The miniatures are labeled as follows on the reverse :

Her Majesty's Eleventh East Siberian Regiment

Her Majesty's Eleventh Uhlan Regiment Chuguevski

Her Majesty's Second Pskov Dragoon Regiment

Her Majesty's Fleet Guard Regiment

Her Majesty's Cuirassier Bodyguard Regiment

Her Majesty's Cavalry Guard Regiment

The frames of the miniatures consist of inner diamond rose ribbons and outer green enamelled laurel wreaths and hinges in the form of fascia with diamond-studded ribbons. The backs of the panels show the monograms MF (Maria Fjodorowna) on a round green guilloché enamel field and an outer white enamel border on a radial guilloché ground.

Workshop manager: Henrik Wigström
Characters: Fabergé, Henrik Wigström, 56 Kokoschnik
Material: shell: yellow gold, diamond roses, emerald green and ruby red enamel, ivory-colored velvet cover, ivory-colored satin lining ; Miniature frames: yellow gold, diamond roses, platinum, emerald green and opalescent white enamel; Miniature: gouache on ivory
Technique: Transparent enamel coating on a guilloche background with sunbeam and wave motifs, casting, chasing
Height: 11.8 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his mother Maria Feodorovna; acquired by the Soviet government around 1927 by Hammer Galleries, New York ; The Matilda Geddings Gray Foundation Collection, New Orleans, USA
Location: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, USA; currently on loan from the New Orleans Museum of Art, Louisiana, USA

Tsarevich egg (1912)

The egg is made of gold, lapis lazuli, portrait diamonds and brilliant-cut diamonds. The surprise inside is made of platinum, lapis lazuli, rose diamonds and a watercolor on ivory. The Louis XV style egg was carved from a block of lapis lazuli and decorated with pieces of gold such as shells, scrolls and baskets. The crowned imperial monogram AF (Alexandra Feodorovna) and the year 1912 can be seen under a rectangular portrait diamond on top of the egg. A large diamond forms the lower end. The surprise inside the egg is the Russian double-headed imperial eagle, which is covered all around with 2000 diamonds. A miniature portrait on the eagle's chest shows the Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich.

Workshop manager: Henrik Wigström
Height: 12.5 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his wife Alexandra Feodorovna; Lillian Thomas Pratt, USA
Location: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, USA

Winter Egg (1913)

The egg consists of rock crystal, platinum, rose diamonds, brilliant-cut diamonds and moonstone. It is located on a base made of rock crystal, which is shaped from a block like melting ice and imitates rivulets using platinum-plated rose diamonds. The hinged egg is carved from a block of rock crystal and is held vertically by a pin. The tip is formed by a cabochon moonstone, which is painted on the back with the year 1913. The thinly carved, transparent body of the ice is engraved on the inside and outside to simulate ice crystals. The removable surprise inside the egg is a work basket with a double platinum handle. The basket is full of anemones, each flower realistically carved from a single white quartz flower or bud and with leaves made of nephrite. The flowers are attached to a bed of gold moss with stems made of gold wire. The bottom of the basket is engraved with “Fabergé 1913” in Roman letters. The bill documents the tsar's purchase of winter ice for 24,600 rubles, the highest price ever paid for an imperial egg. It also describes the decorations on the egg with 1,300 rose diamonds, 360 brilliant-cut diamonds and 1,378 rose diamonds for the basket. The egg, like all eggs in which mainly platinum was processed, is unmarked, Russia had no trademark for platinum at the time.

Foreman: Albert Holmström
Height 10.2 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his mother Maria Feodorovna; Wartski, London; Sir Bernard Eckstein, UK; Bryan Ledbrook, UK; Christie's London
Where it remains: Private collection, probably Sheikh Saud AL-Thani, Qatar

Egg for the 300th year of rule (1913)

Egg for the 300th anniversary of the Romanov Tsar dynasty (1913)

The golden egg with 18 miniature portraits of all the Romanov tsars on a pedestal in the shape of a three-sided imperial eagle is covered with transparent white enamel on a guilloche background. The 18 portraits framed in diamonds by Vasili Zuiev enclose the Romanov tsars from Michael Feodorowitsch to Nikolaus II. In detail these are: Michael I (1613–1645) - first of the Romanovs; Alexei I (1645-1676); Fyodor III. (1676-1682); Sophia Alexejewna (1682-1689); Ivan V. (1682-1696); Peter I the Great (1682–1725) - emperor since 1721; Catherine I. (1725-1727); Peter II (1727-1730); Anna (1730-1740); Ivan VI (1740–1741) - became emperor shortly after his birth; Elisabeth (1741-1761); Peter III (1762); Catherine II the Great (1762–1796); Paul I. (1796-1801); Alexander I. (1801-1825); Nicholas I (1825-1855); Alexander II (1855-1881); Alexander III (1881-1894); Nicholas II (1894-1917). The spaces between the medallions are decorated with inlays with heraldic eagles, tsar crowns and floral elements. The tip of the egg is adorned with a large table diamond, including the dates 1613 and 1913. The lower end of the egg is adorned with a large triangular diamond with the initials AF (Alexandra Fjodorovna). The inside of the egg is laid out with opalescent enamel on a guilloche background. It includes a rotatable steel globe with dark blue enamel coating on which each semicircle Russian regions are represented by 1613 and 1913 in gold. The purpurin base is decorated with small enameled emblems and rests on three cast feet in the form of flattened rifle bullets.

Workshop manager: Henrik Wigström
Characters: Fabergé, Henrik Wigström 1913, Standard 72,
Material: gold, silver, steel, diamonds, turquoise , glass, purpurin , ivory
Technique: casting, engraving, painting, gilding, enamel
Height: 19.0 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his wife Alexandra Feodorovna
Location: Kremlin Armory, Moscow (inventory no. 651 / I-2)

Egg Catherine the Great (1914)

The egg is made of four-color gold, pink grisaille and opaque white enamel, portrait diamonds, rose diamonds, seed pearls and velvet lining. The two rectangular and the two oval panels on the egg were painted on rose enamel by Vasili Zuiev with allegorical scenes from art and science. The panels are embedded in ribbons of portrait and rose diamonds. The surprise inside the hinged egg is lost. According to a letter from the recipient (Maria Feodorovna) to her sister, Queen Alexandra of England , the surprise was a mechanical sedan chair in which Catherine the Great sat, carried by two Moors. The surprise probably consisted of gold, enamel, diamonds, and pearls.

Workshop manager: Henrik Wigström
Height: 12.1 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his mother Maria Feodorovna; Armand Hammer, New York; Marjorie Merriweather Post, USA
Location: Hillwood Museum, Washington DC, USA

Mosaic Egg (1914)

The egg body, made of platinum mesh, is interspersed with a large number of calibrated precious and semi-precious stones. The surprise held inside the egg by two golden clips consists of a golden, transparent-green and opaque-white enamelled picture stand, which is set with pearls, diamonds and green garnets and is crowned by a diamond imperial crown. The oval medallion shows the gray enameled profiles of the tsar children on a pink background. Its back is enamelled in pale green with the names of the children, a flower basket in sepia and the year 1914. The sunbeams motif and the misspelled name G. Fabergé 1914 are engraved on the golden area under the stand of the egg. The Fabergé expert Snowman suspects that the "G" was deliberately engraved to honor the 100th birthday of Gustav Fabergé (father of Carl Fabergé). This egg, laid out as a jewel, comes from the Holmström workshop and bears the signature of Fabergé.

Foreman: Albert Holmström
Signs: Engraved signature C. Fabergé on the edge of the egg, engraved signature G. (instead of C. ) Fabergé on the picture stand, Cyrillic monogram AF (Alexandra Fjodorovna )
Material: yellow gold, platinum, diamonds, rubies, emeralds, topazes , sapphires, garnets , pearls
Technique: opaque enamel, painting on ivory
Height 9.2 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his wife Alexandra Feodorovna; Wartski, London; Acquired in 1934 by King George V of England.
Location: Royal Collection HM Queen Elizabeth II. , London, UK

Nobel Eis-Ei (1914), 4th private-order egg

Nobel Eis-Ei (1914) "non-imperial"

The egg is made of platinum, silver, translucent white enamel and seed pearls. It looks rather simple, but the first impression is deceptive. The silver pearl matt eggshell is alternately covered with layers of transparent and opaque white enamel, each layer painted and engraved separately. The result is frost crystals and an icy sheen. As a surprise inside there is a watch pendant, the platinum dial of which is partially overlaid by ice crystals made of rose diamonds and rock crystal.

Length: 7.0 cm
Provenance: Gift from Dr. Emanuel Nobel to a friend; The Forbes Magazine Collection, New York
Location: McFerrin Collection, Houston, USA

Red Cross Egg with Imperial Portraits (1915)

The egg is made of gold, silver, opalescent white and translucent red enamel. The miniature picture gallery inside is made of mother-of-pearl and watercolor on ivory. Opalescent white guilloché enamel covers the silver background of the egg. Two opposite red enamel crosses on the belly of the egg bear the dates 1914 and 1915. In between is a stylized Russian enamel inscription which translates as: “There is no greater love than the man who gives his life for his comrades. “On the top of the egg are the crown and the monogram of Tsar's mother Maria Feodorovna made of silver, on the underside is a six-legged rosette as a holder for the egg. The surprise is a hinged, five-part gallery of oval miniature portraits, each framed by an opalescent, white enamelled gold frame. Vasili Zuiev's portraits show:

Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna, the Tsar's sister
Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, the tsar's eldest daughter
Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna,
Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna, the second daughter of the Tsar
Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna, the tsar's first cousin

All wear the costume of the Red Cross. The pictures pay tribute to the service of the Tsarina and the Grand Duchesses, who trained to be nurses in World War I and converted palaces into makeshift hospitals. But it is also a reminiscence of the Tsar's mother, who served in the Red Cross during the Turkish-Russian War of 1877 and was president of the organization.

Workshop manager: Henrik Wigström
Height: 7.6 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his mother Maria Feodorovna; Armand Hammer, New York; Lillian Thomas Pratt, USA
Location: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, USA

Red Cross Egg with Resurrection Triptych (1915)

This piece is a white enameled Easter egg with two strawberry red guilloché enamel crosses on the front and back. In the center of the cross there is a medallion with the portrait of Grand Duchess Olga on the back and a miniature portrait of Grand Duchess Tatiana on the front. The two oldest tsarist daughters are each depicted in their Red Cross uniforms. The two front parts of the egg can be opened to form a triptych . In the central motif, the torments of hell are shown. Jesus Christ stands over the gates of hell , which he has just torn down. He takes Adam by the right hand and is surrounded by patriarchs and prophets. In the Orthodox Church, the resurrection is traditionally associated with the depiction of infernal torments. On the left wing is Olga of Kiev , the founder of Christianity in Russia, on the right, Saint Tatiana of Rome is shown as a martyr.

The central scenery was painted in natural colors, but kept in a general gold tint in accordance with international regulations for such a subject . The hinged wings of the triptych are painted in natural colors on a gold background. According to Snowman , the miniatures inside were painted by Parchov , a miniaturist specializing in icons who worked with Fabergé. The edges and larger inscriptions are made of opaque white enamel. The egg also comes with a white velvet box and a gold stand, which was probably made recently. According to Snowman , only the eggshell is made of gold and its cost - as a war-related austerity measure - was only £ 200 .

The inscriptions on the egg: monogram and imperial crown for Alexandra Feodorovna; the year 1915; Cyrillic, Old Church Slavonic and Latin letters identify the Saints Olga and Tatiana and probably describe the central scenario of the triptych. Inscriptions on the box: double-headed imperial eagle, Fabergé, St. Petersburg, Moscow, London in Cyrillic letters on the lining; Numeral 17 559, Cyrillic abbreviation for Red Cross in ink on the outside of the box.

Workshop manager: Henrik Wigström
Characters: Fabergé, Henrik Wigström, number 72, Kokoschnik, Greek letter Alpha
Material: gold, gold plated silver
Technique: enamel on a guilloche background
Height: 6.2 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his wife Alexandra Feodorovna; A La Vieille Russie, New York; India Early Minshall, Cleveland, USA
Location: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, USA

St. George Order Egg / St. George Cross Egg (1916)

St. George's Egg (1916)

The background to the production of this less extravagant and formally strict ice cream was the award of the Order of St. George to the Tsar Nicholas II. Behind the medal of the order is a miniature portrait of the Tsar that appears at the push of a button. A medallion with a portrait of the Tsar's son Alexei opens on the back . This is the last of the Easter eggs delivered by the Fabergé company on behalf of the tsarist family and the only egg that the tsarist mother was able to bring out of the country in her hand luggage during the October Revolution.

Foreman: unknown (no foreman mark)
Characters: Fabergé
Materials: silver, gold, translucent orange, opalescent white, opaque pink, light green, white and black enamel, rock crystal, ivory
Technique: opalescent enamel on a silver background, painting on ivory
Dimensions: Height without stand: 9.0 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his mother Maria Feodorovna; Grand Duchess Xenia, her daughter; Prince Vasili Romanov, her son; Sotheby's, ca.1961–1962; A la Vieille Russie, New York; The Forbes Magazine Collection, New York
Remaining: Collection Wiktor Wekselberg

Military steel egg (1916)

The egg is made of gold, steel and nephrite and is decorated with gold applications, crowned by a golden crown and carried by four artillery rounds. Two thin horizontal lines divide the egg into three sections. On the broad central band are gold inlays with four representations:

George the Conqueror in a diamond-shaped laurel leaf frame
The year 1916 in a laurel wreath
Russian imperial eagle under three crowns
Monogram of Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna in a laurel wreath

The four artillery shells on which the egg rests stand on a square, two-story nephrite base. As a surprise, the egg contains a miniature steel easel with the Tsarina monogram AF . On the easel there is a frame made of gold and white enamel, crowned by the emblem of the Order of St. George and a gold crown. The painting by Vasili Zuiev shows Tsar Nicholas II and his son Alexei at the front.

Workshop manager: Henrik Wigström
Characters: Fabergé, Henrik Wigström, Standard 72
Material: gold, steel , nephrite
Technique: casting, painting
Height: 16.7 cm
Provenance: Gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his wife Alexandra Feodorovna
Location: Kremlin Armory, Moscow (inventory no. MR-652 / I-3)

Birch Egg (1917)

Invoice for the birch egg (1917)

A Karelian birch Faberge egg decorated with gold and sapphires, which was made for the mother of Tsar Nicholas II at Easter 1917, but was no longer delivered to him due to the Tsar's abdication on March 15, 1917 after internment in the Alexander Palace in Petrograd has been. Fabergé's request to be allowed to deliver the “simple Easter egg made without splendor” to “Mr. Nikolai Alexandrowitsch Romanow” was rejected. The egg rests on a gold base with diamond decorations. It has a tilt mechanism in the middle and can be opened with a key decorated with diamonds.

Some experts questioned the authenticity of this ice cream when Russian collector Alexander Nikolayevich Ivanov bought it in France in 1995, as its existence was not known beforehand. However, the buyer discovered documents in the Russian State Archives that proved the authenticity of the egg.

Characters: Fabergé
Material: Karelian birch, gold, sapphires
Technique: woodwork, two halves, tilt mechanism and central lock with key
Provenance: planned gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his mother Maria Feodorovna .
Where to go: Fabergé Museum Baden-Baden

Constellation-of-the-Tsarevich-Egg (1917); - unfinished -

The unfinished egg in the Mineralogical Museum, Moscow (1917)

The egg made of blue cobalt glass rests on a high base made of matt rock crystal. The sphere is provided with an image of the sky constellation at the time of the birth of the Tsarevich. Diamonds depict the constellation of Leo, in which Tsarevich Alexei Nikolajewitsch Romanov , the only son of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna was born. In the middle of the ice, which consists of two halves (hemispheres), Fabergé had planned a rotary clock with a movable, outward-facing and upward-facing dial decorated with diamonds and an immovable hour hand, which, however, was no longer installed as a result of the February Revolution . The Russian Revolution and the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II also marked the end of Fabergé's Easter egg production.

Material: rock crystal, blue cobalt glass and diamonds
Height: 18.0 cm
Provenance: planned gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his wife Alexandra Feodorovna
Where to go: The inventory in the Mineralogical Museum “AJ Fersman” of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow describes “a blue glass ball made of a crystallized base. Work by Fabergé. ”In the Fabergé Museum in Baden-Baden, an intact egg, completely made with a nephritic base and completed according to original sketches, is on display. It is owned by Alexander Nikolayevich Ivanov . (Note: You can puzzle over what is Fabergé and what is a fake? “Of course we have the real egg,” it says confidently in the Baden-Baden museum. “In Moscow, only parts of the interior light designed by Fabergé are on display”.)

Museums

The Fabergé Museum has been located in Baden-Baden since 2009 with a total of over 700 exhibits, sponsored by the Russian billionaire Alexander Nikolajewitsch Ivanov .

In St. Petersburg, Russia, there has also been a Fabergé Museum in the Shuvalov Palace since 2013 , sponsored by the cultural-historical foundation "The Link of Times Cultural and Historical Foundation", which was founded by the Russian billionaire Viktor Felixowitsch Wekselberg and presents a total of 4,000 exhibits.

Representations in the media

Movies

Bernd Boehm (director): Fabergé - Easter eggs for the tsars. Documentary film with game scenes, Germany (RBB), 2008, 52 min. (More than 30 Fabergé eggs are shown in the original and references are made for the gift occasion, mostly in their function and content. The credits are partly used by the current owners called.)
The Fabergé eggs play a role in the films Pretty Best Friends , Ocean's 12 , The Code , The Order and Octopussy , the 13th film in the series about British agent James Bond . In addition, the Fabergé eggs and the Romanov dynasty play a major role in the anime film Detective Conan - The Magician of the Last Century . A fake egg was featured in the film Game Night (2018).

In other media

The story Arch Enemies in Funny Pocket Book No. 536 is about three jeweled eggs by the fictional artist "Faradé". According to a rumor in history, “Faradé” did not create the eggs, but only stole them from the nest of the sleeping eagle Aithon .

swell

literature
- Sigrid Barten: Carl Fabergé. Precious Russian goldsmith's art from the turn of the century (= Museum of Design. Guide. No. 370). Museum Bellerive , Zurich 1989, ISBN 3-907065-33-6 (exhibition catalog Museum Bellerive, Zurich May 31 - September 3, 1989).
- Christopher Forbes: Faberge. The imperial ceremonial eggs. Prestel, Munich et al. 2003, ISBN 3-7913-3019-5 .
- Géza von Habsburg (ed.): Fabergé - Cartier. Rivals at the Tsar's court. Hirmer, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-7774-9830-0 .
- Marina Lopato, Géza von Habsburg: Fabergé. Imperial jeweller. Thames & Hudson, London 1993, ISBN 0-500-09239-7 .
- Elsebeth Welander-Berggren (Ed.): Carl Fabergé. Goldsmith to the tsar (= National Museum utställningskatalog 598). National Museum, Stockholm 1997, ISBN 91-7100-539-0 .
- Will Lowes, Christel Ludewig McCanless: Fabergé Eggs. A Retrospective Encyclopedia. Scarecrow Press, Lanham MD et al. 2001, ISBN 0-8108-3946-6 .
Online publications
- Marlene Endruweit: Happy Easter. In: Dental communications . April 16, 2006.
- Michael Posch: Imperial treasures in the Golden Gallery. ( Memento of September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ). In: Berliner Morgenpost . June 15, 2005.
- Peter Dittmar: An old Easter custom. ( Memento of December 31, 2006 in the Internet Archive ). In: Berliner Morgenpost. June 15, 2005.
- History of the Fabergé eggs. In: Welt.de. August 1, 2004.
- Claudia Kemmer: Fabergé eggs: filigree masterpieces. In: manager-magazin.de. June 16, 2005.
- Karl Heinz Nuber: Visit to a Russian oligarch. In: TICK-Talk.ch. November 2, 2015.

Web links

Commons : Fabergé Eggs - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

↑ Christie's auction announcement. (PDF) Christies, October 4, 2007, accessed January 10, 2017 .
↑ Auction: Record sums for the Tsar's Fabergé egg.
↑ ^a ^b Liechtenstein Traditional Costume Association (ed.): EinTracht . Easter, No. 56 , 2011, p. 4 ( eliechtensteinensia.li ).
^ Cultural and Historical Foundation.
↑ LotSearch editors: The American scrap dealer's special Easter egg . ( lotsearch.de [accessed April 11, 2018]).
↑ Lost Fabergé Egg: The Scrap Dealer's Treasure. At: Spiegel Online. March 20, 2014, accessed on the same day.
↑ Mieks Fabergé Eggs. In: wintraecken.nl. Retrieved January 10, 2017 .
↑ Faberge - Treasures of Imperial Russia. (No longer available online.) April 13, 2012, archived from the original on April 13, 2012 ; accessed on January 10, 2017 .
^ ^A ^b Suzi Love: Easter In Images: Book 2 History Events . Self-published, 2014, ISBN 978-0-9923456-9-3 , p. 1855 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
↑ Neues Museum shows treasures from Liechtenstein. In: vorarlberg.ORF.at. March 30, 2015, accessed June 15, 2019 .
↑ ^a ^b ^c Svenja: Luxarazzi 101: Fabergé's Apple Blossom Egg. In: Luxarazzi. April 20, 2014, accessed June 15, 2019 .
↑ ^a ^b ^c Liechtenstein Treasury. In: Liechtenstein National Museum. Retrieved June 15, 2019 .
↑ Tatiana Faberge, Nikolai Bachmakov, Dmitry Krivoshey, Nicholas BA Nicholson (ed.), Valentin Skurlov, Anna Palmade, Vincent Palmade: Faberge: The Imperial "Empire" Egg of 1902 . Harrison Piper & Co., New York 2017, ISBN 978-1-5323-4228-8 .
↑ Putin Gives Faberge Egg to Hermitage for 250th Anniversary . ( themoscowtimes.com [accessed January 13, 2017]).
^ Putin, the Oligarch, and the Tax Dispute Over a $ 14 Million Fabergé Egg . In: Bloomberg.com . December 16, 2014 ( bloomberg.com [accessed January 13, 2017]).
↑ Alexander III Commemorative. In: Wikipedia. June 10, 2016, accessed January 10, 2017 .
^ Visiting a Russian oligarch. In: TICK-Talk Tourbillon Magazin. Retrieved January 5, 2017 .
^ Baden-Baden: Special museum: Fabergé eggs of quality class A in Baden-Baden. In: badische-zeitung.de. Retrieved January 5, 2017 .
↑ Carol & Pat McGreal (story); Giorgio Cavazzano (drawings): Arch enemies . In: Funny paperback . tape 536 . Egmont Ehapa Media GmbH, August 18, 2020, p. 5-34 .
↑ LTB 536 - Arch Enemies - Lustiges-Taschenbuch.de. Retrieved August 19, 2020 .

[1] Christie's auction announcement. (PDF) Christies, October 4, 2007, accessed January 10, 2017 .

[2] Auction: Record sums for the Tsar's Fabergé egg.

[eintracht-3] Liechtenstein Traditional Costume Association (ed.): EinTracht . Easter, No. 56 , 2011, p. 4 ( eliechtensteinensia.li ).

[4] Cultural and Historical Foundation.

[5] LotSearch editors: The American scrap dealer's special Easter egg . ( lotsearch.de [accessed April 11, 2018]).

[6] Lost Fabergé Egg: The Scrap Dealer's Treasure. At: Spiegel Online. March 20, 2014, accessed on the same day.

[7] Mieks Fabergé Eggs. In: wintraecken.nl. Retrieved January 10, 2017 .

[8] Faberge - Treasures of Imperial Russia. (No longer available online.) April 13, 2012, archived from the original on April 13, 2012 ; accessed on January 10, 2017 .

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