Carl Faberge's first egg. Faberge eggs. The legend of the Easter egg

The exquisite works of Faberge survived a tragic and blood-drenched history that scattered them around the world.

What can be found inside an Easter egg? A bar of chocolate? A fluffy, yellow Easter toy chicken? Over the course of 30 years, the empresses of Tsarist Russia have learned to expect a little more from Easter gifts. Inside a pure white, life-sized egg - fashioned in enamel, not chocolate - a gift from Tsar Alexander III to Tsarina Maria Feodorovna in 1885, was a golden yolk hiding a golden hen. Inside the golden hen were a diamond and a miniature of the imperial crown.

It was only the first of 50 decorative Easter eggs made for the Russian royal family by Peter Carl Faberge's St. Petersburg studio between 1885 and 1917, when the October Revolution brought the Bolsheviks to power.
The eggs were made of gold covered with fine layers of lacquer and studded with precious stones.

The phrase "Faberge Eggs" has become synonymous with luxury and an emblem of the wealth of the imperial house and pre-revolutionary Russia. As well as the name of the type of jewelry in the form of eggs with surprises and one of the symbols of Russia. Eggs were made of gold, silver, precious stones. Precious enamels and fine jewelry work were used.

Romanovs

One of the Faberge eggs contains a model of the Trans-Siberian Express - a celebration in honor of the railway, its tiny locomotive, complete with a diamond headlight, pulls five golden cars, their windows are rock crystal and engraved with infinitely small inscriptions on the cars "direct Siberian message", "for ladies”, “for smokers”, “for non-smokers”, “church”. With the help of a small key, the train can be set in motion.

Often masters of the Faberge company experimented with non-traditional materials - rock crystal, precious woods, rare minerals. Each egg took almost a year to make. The structure of the Faberge firm was ahead of its time: the jewelry firms included in the concern were quite independent in their work.

Many jewelers working for Faberge owned their own firms, but considered it an honor to participate in the execution of the imperial order. 62 eggs have survived to this day. Most of them are kept in state museums. 54 imperial eggs are known: 46 pieces made by the royal order have survived to this day; the rest are known from descriptions, accounts, and old photographs and are thought to be lost.

Carl Faberge was a hereditary jeweler, traveled around Europe and studied in Dresden, after which he began to master the jewelry business with the Frankfurt master Josef Friedman. After that, he returned to Russia. At the age of 24, in 1870, he took over his father's firm. In 1882, at the All-Russian Art and Industrial Exhibition in Moscow, the products of his company attracted the attention of Emperor Alexander III. So Karl received the patronage of the royal family and the title of "jeweler of His Imperial Majesty and jeweler of the Imperial Hermitage."

All the eggs made by the firm of Carl Faberge for the imperial family were kept in a special room in the Anichkov Palace. During the 1917 revolution, they were stolen by the Bolsheviks and transferred to the Kremlin Armory. However, seven of the eggs went missing and have not been found to this day.

One of the eggs was not finished due to the 1917 revolution. The Constellation Egg was unique in its kind, as rare earth minerals were used for it. Now the egg is stored in the Fersman Mineralogical Museum in Moscow.

Although the House of Fabergé was nationalized by the Bolsheviks after the revolution, Carl's son Peter left the country and died in Switzerland in 1920. To purchase foreign currency for the young Soviet Union, Stalin had to sell about 14 eggs, which ended up in European collections.

Nine eggs from the original collection were sold to Malcolm Forbes and have been in New York for a long time. That was until they were bought by the Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who spent more than $100 million on the collection.

Rothschild egg. In 2007, an egg from the private collection of the Rothschild family broke two auction records at once as the most expensive chronograph and as the most expensive Faberge egg sold. The sale amounted to 8.9 million euros.

Incredibly, in 2004, one of the missing eggs was found completely by accident. Lucky Anonymous bought it at a flea market in the middle of scrap gold. Imagine his surprise when he found out the true cost of the egg - about thirty million dollars.

Traditions continue. The House of Faberge has recently revived its Easter tradition. In February 2015, the firm created an egg for Qatar's ruling dynasty. The modern egg is made of mother-of-pearl, gray pearls, diamonds and white gold.

"Faberge Eggs" is a household name. This symbol of luxury, once sold by the Bolsheviks for next to nothing, today costs fabulous money. Private collectors pay millions for the right to own famous treasures.

Origin

We can say that Carl Faberge is a hereditary jeweler. His father opened his own company in St. Petersburg in 1842. The family came to Russia from Estonia, and the ancestors of the famous jeweler were French Huguenots who fled to Germany from the unfriendly policy of the Sun King (Louis XIV). Faberge's father's workshop did nothing outstanding: brooches and tiaras, generously studded with precious stones, were in constant demand among representatives of the wealthy merchant class, but that was all.

Gustav tried his best to educate and provide for his first child, so Carl Faberge studied at the most prestigious educational institutions in Europe, studied jewelry in Frankfurt, and then returned to Russia and at the age of 24 headed the family business. Some researchers claim that he was extremely gifted in jewelry, others are sure that the outstanding talent of Karl Gustavovich was purely administrative. But the manager, as they would say now, he was from God.

Takeoff

When in 1882 an art and industrial exhibition took place in Moscow, Faberge was lucky: the products of the enterprise attracted the attention of his wife. From that moment on, fruitful cooperation between the jeweler and the monarch's family began. It must be said that the emperor gave away expensive jewelry, not only in kilograms - in tons. It was required to present gifts during official visits to the rulers of other countries, and skillfully made sets, caskets, jewelry and various trinkets with the Faberge brand were suitable here.

Soon the company received international recognition, having won the exhibition in Nuremberg (1885). The judges chose items that replicate the gold jewelry of the Scythians. In the same year, the first Faberge egg was made for the Romanovs.

Emperor's family

The Empress favored the jeweler since 1884: she was presented with a souvenir depicting a golden basket with pearl lilies of the valley. Maria Fyodorovna found the thing charming, and we can say that thanks to this, Carl Faberge opened a new direction in the activity of the enterprise. Since then, a variety of fantasies, embodied in stone, gold or bone, have become his signature feature.

It must be said that the famous jeweler most of all appreciated the artistic side of the issue, and not all of his products were precious. Various useful little things were made at his enterprises, such as handles for umbrellas, bells or stone seals. According to some sources, the company even made Faberge silver sets, and they were really famous throughout Russia (and not only).

artistic side

The jeweler introduced the fashion to use not only precious stones and metals, but also simpler materials: crystal, bone, malachite, jasper, etc. At first, the company's staff did not have enough qualified personnel to implement all the ideas that Carl Faberge was filled with. The works had to be ordered from the Ural masters. But gradually many talented jewelers, engravers and artists became full-time employees of the enterprise. Among them were masters of the highest class, Faberge allowed them to put their own brand on their works.

The working day of the employees was just a slave: they had to work from seven in the morning to eleven in the evening, and on Sundays - until one in the afternoon. An amazing thing, but at the same time, Carl Faberge enjoyed the location of his subordinates: they did not leave him, did not organize competing firms, although many had such an opportunity. It must be said that the famous jeweler paid a generous salary, he did not leave old and sick workers to the mercy of fate, he did not skimp on praise.

The company had its own recognizable style. Another feature was the variety of enamels, which delight the eye with more than 120 shades, and the technique of the so-called guilloche enamel has never been reproduced.

Imperial collection eggs

Carl Faberge received the widest fame and posthumous fame thanks to which his company made every year for the imperial family. The beginning of the tradition was laid by chance. The Tsar asked the jeweler to make a surprise gift for Her Majesty Maria Feodorovna. Faberge was given freedom of choice - this is how the first egg of the imperial collection appeared.

The first sample was a golden egg covered with white enamel on the outside. Inside it was placed a yolk and a colored chicken. She, in turn, also had a secret: inside the bird was a tiny imperial crown and a ruby ​​egg, which was subsequently lost.

The idea was not original: such souvenirs are still kept among the exhibits of several European museums (perhaps, Carl Faberge drew inspiration there).

The Empress was delighted with the gift. From that moment on, Faberge had to present a new masterpiece to the court every year, but with two conditions. Firstly, an egg with a secret could only be made for the royal family. Secondly, it had to be absolutely original.

When Nicholas II came to the throne, the tradition continued, but now Faberge created two souvenirs: for the wife of the monarch and for the dowager empress.

Bypassing the royal ban

Many years later, it became known that the jeweler nevertheless circumvented the prohibition of his august patron: seven eggs, very similar to the originals from the royal treasury, turned out to be the property of the wife of a certain gold miner. What was to blame - the fabulous wealth of Mrs. Kelch or her lovely eyes - is not known for certain. In addition to them, there are at least eight more Faberge eggs made by private orders. The fact that this fact is not documented is an excellent cover for scammers.

The house of Carl Faberge spent almost a year to make each masterpiece. The most talented artists were involved in creating sketches, and the type of the future gift was kept in the strictest confidence.

In the process of making the royal surprise, Faberge did not pursue profit: in different years, Easter eggs cost the emperor different amounts and were made from different, sometimes completely inexpensive materials. So, in 1916, the monarch received a steel egg, for which four cartridges served as a stand.

The owners of the preserved treasures

They talk about 50, 52 and even 56 copies that Faberge made for the imperial family, but some of them were lost. The Bolsheviks, having come to power, not only robbed the imperial treasury, but also sold it for nothing. The location of only 46 of them is now known.

In 2013, a truly royal gift to the residents of St. Petersburg was made by the Russian oligarch Maxim Vekselberg. He bought the world's largest collection of eggs from the Forbes family and opened the Faberge Museum, where 9 out of 15 copies can be seen by everyone. Another 10 masterpieces are among the exhibits, 13 are in museums in the United States of America, 2 in Switzerland and 13 more are scattered in private collections (several belong to

Another Faberge Museum was opened in Baden-Baden, where eggs made in 1917 are displayed: from (intended for the Dowager Empress) and glass-crystal (for Alexandra Feodorovna). The authenticity of the latter raises some doubts, since the same was found in the storerooms of the Mineralogical Museum in Moscow, but the owner of the masterpiece, another Russian billionaire Alexander Ivanov, assures that he is the owner of the original.

Making elaborately decorated Easter eggs was both a tradition and an ancient craft in Russia. Long before Faberge began creating jewelry eggs for the imperial family, eggs made from precious metals and stones were made for Russian tsars. But only Carl Faberge and his talented team of artists, jewelers, stone cutters, model sculptors and miniaturists managed to bring the art of making jewelry Easter eggs to an unprecedented and unsurpassed level of elegance, craftsmanship and creative imagination.

Carl Faberge and his firm's jewelers created the first egg in 1885. It was commissioned by Tsar Alexander III as an Easter surprise for his wife Maria Feodorovna. The so-called “Chicken” egg was smooth and enameled on the outside, but when it was opened, a chicken made of gold turned out to be inside. Inside the chicken, in turn, was hidden a small ruby ​​​​crown (cf. the tradition of folding matryoshkas).

Faberge Egg "Hen" 1885
The most simple and classic egg: white, inside the yolk, then the hen, and inside it is a ruby ​​crown (not preserved)
. Vekselberg collection

The empress was so fascinated by the gift that Faberge, who turned into a court jeweler, received an order to make an egg every year; it had to be unique and contain some kind of surprise, that was the only condition. The next emperor, Nicholas II, continued this tradition, each spring giving, in turn, two eggs - one to Maria Feodorovna, his widowed mother, and the second to Alexandra Feodorovna, the new empress.

The next egg made by the Faberge firm was the Hen with Sapphire Pandan egg, there is no information about it and no image. The first owner is Maria Fedorovna, born in 1886. Location: Cleveland Museum of Art, Minshell Early Indian Collection.

Faberge egg "Clock with a blue snake" 1887
Egg clock, made in the tradition of Sevres porcelain. The stationary snake serves as an arrow.
Prince Albert Collection.

In total, from 1885 to 1917, by order of the emperors Alexander III and Nicholas II, about 56 Easter masterpieces were created (the exact number is unknown). Eggs made in the workshop of Mikhail Perkhin, which after his death was headed by Heinrich Wigström, were distinguished by unprecedented luxury, amazing imagination, unsurpassed perfection in detail, and a virtuoso combination of a variety of techniques. Never repeated, they were especially impressive with the surprises contained in them - miniature copies of royal yachts and cruisers with the finest gear, palaces with flowerbeds of "fluffy" gold broken in front of them, monuments strewn with stones, flowers or buds.

Faberge Egg "Cherub and Chariot" 1888
Malachite egg with carriage, deer and three cherubs inside. The stand is foldable and has two options.
The first owner is Maria Fedorovna. Location unknown (since 1930s), probably USA.

Faberge Egg "Nesser"1889
Contains a 13-piece manicure set. Last known price $3,000,000
The first owner is Maria Fedorovna. Location unknown (missing)

Faberge Egg "Danish Palaces" 1890
Inside: 12 miniature paintings on mother-of-pearl - views of palaces in Denmark and Russia.

Each egg took almost a year to make. As soon as the sketch was approved, a whole team of the firm's jewelers took over the work, some of whose names have been preserved (so it should not be said that the author of all of them is Carl Faberge). The contribution of master Mikhail Perkhin is especially great. Also mentioned are August Holstrom, Henrik Wigstrom, Eric Collin.

Faberge egg with a model of the cruiser "Memory of Azov", 1891
Materials: Gold, platinum, silver, diamonds, rose-cut diamonds, ruby, aquamarine, heliotrope, velvet. egg length - 35/8 inches (9.3 cm); model length - 7.0 cm; model height - 4.0 cm. Technique: casting, chasing, engraving, stone carving. Inside: a model of the frigate "Memory of Azov", on which the sons of Mary were sailing at that moment. Jewelers - Mikhail Perkhin and Yuri Nikolai. Made of jade, in the Rococo style.
The first owner is Maria Fedorovna. Stored in the State Museums of the Moscow Kremlin, Inv.No. MP-645/1-2.

A series of imperial eggs enjoyed such fame that the Faberge company made several items for private customers (15 are known). Among them stands apart a series of 7 eggs presented by the gold miner Alexander Ferdinandovich Kelkh to his wife. In addition, there are 8 more Faberge eggs made to order (for Felix Yusupov, nephew of Alfred Nobel, the Rothschilds, the Duchess of Marlborough and unidentified persons). They are not as luxurious as the imperial ones, and are not original, often repeating the type invented for royal gifts.

Faberge Egg "Diamond Lattice" 1892
A stand in the form of cherubs holding an egg has been lost. Jade.
The lost surprise is an elephant (Danish armorial animal).
The first owner is Maria Fedorovna. Private collection, London

It is possible that some other items were made for private individuals, but they were never documented (unlike royal eggs), which leaves some freedom for skilled forgers. An example of an unexpected discovery is the “Rothschild egg” put up for sale in the fall of 2007, which was ordered by the representatives of the clan in the Faberge firm and was kept among the family property, without being advertised, for a whole century.

Faberge Egg "Caucasus" 1893
Inside: miniatures with views of the Caucasus with the places where the son of the Empress Grand Duke lived. George.
The first owner is Maria Fedorovna. New Orleans Art Museum.

Of the 71 known eggs, only 62 have survived to this day. The vast majority of them are kept in state museums. 54 imperial eggs are known: 46 pieces made by the royal order have survived to this day; the rest are known from descriptions, accounts, and old photographs and are thought to be lost.

Faberge Egg "Renaissance" 1894
Jeweler - Mikhail Perkhin. Agate. The type of casket Le Roy of the 17th century, which was kept in the "Green Vaults" in Dresden, in the homeland of Faberge, was used. The surprise is unknown, there is an assumption that it was a crystal egg "Resurrection"
The first owner is Maria Fedorovna. Vekselberg collection.

Faberge and Russia are forever inextricably linked. And not only because the German-born jeweler Carl Gustav Faberge, modest and Huguenot, lived his most fruitful years in St. Petersburg. And not even because the Russian emperors (and, therefore, the entire brilliant court of the Russian Empire) loved his creations - from cufflinks to necklaces - and bought them in kilograms. But because some of the creations of Faberge's hands have become the same symbols of Russia as caviar, the Mir space station and Tolstoy's immortal War and Peace. Of course, we are talking about imperial Easter eggs.

Faberge egg "12 monograms"
Jeweler - Mikhail Perkhin. The egg was ordered by the new emperor for his mother, who had been accustomed to such gifts for a decade. The product is decorated with the initials of Maria Feodorovna and the deceased Alexander III, which are repeated 6 times. The surprise is gone.
First owner - Maria Fedorovna
Hillwood Museum, Washington, USA 1896 By Faberge.

The custom of giving eggs on the Easter holiday arose a long time ago. According to legend, the first Easter egg was presented to the Roman emperor Tiberius by Mary Magdalene, who came with the news of the Resurrection of Christ. And in those days it was customary, when coming to the emperor, to bring him gifts. Wealthy people brought jewelry, and the poor - what they could. Therefore, Mary Magdalene, who had nothing but faith in Jesus, handed the emperor Tiberius a chicken egg with the words: "Christ is Risen!" The emperor pointedly remarked that the resurrection of a person from the dead is the same irrational miracle as, for example, the fact that a white egg can turn red. Tiberius did not have time to finish these words, as an ordinary chicken egg turned blood red. In memory of this amazing event, believers give each other eggs for Easter. Who are poorer - just painted, who are richer - intricately decorated. Those who are simply indecently rich, along with the traditional words "Christ is Risen!" give Faberge eggs.

Faberge Egg "Rosebud"
The first egg presented to Alexandra Feodorovna. Surprise - a rose (in memory of Darmstadt, the birthplace of the Empress, who was proud of her flowers). Inside the flower is a crown, inside which is a pendant (lost).

Neoclassicism style. Vekselberg Collection 1895 Author Faberge

The next egg was "Portraits of Alexander III" There is no information about it. Mentioned on the company invoice. Probably contained 6 portrait miniatures.
The first owner is Maria Fedorovna, born in 1896.

Faberge Egg "Rotating Miniatures"
Egg made of rock crystal with 12 miniatures - views of memorable places for the Empress
First owner - Alexandra Fedorovna
Virginia Art Museum, Richmond, USA 1896 By Faberge

Faberge Egg "Pink-Purple Egg with 3 Miniatures"
Lost. Presumably, the surprise inside is a heart with three portrait medallions, which has survived and is now in the Vekselberg collection.
First owner - Maria Fedorovna
Location unknown 1897 Author Faberge

Faberge Egg "Coronation"
A copy of the Imperial carriage at the coronation of Nicholas II. Jeweler - Mikhail Perkhin, Georg Stein. The most famous of the eggs.
First owner - Alexandra Fedorovna
Armory 1897 Author Faberge

In 2004, Russian businessman Viktor Vekselberg purchased a collection of works by Carl Faberge from the Forbes family. 9 imperial Easter eggs and 190 other pieces of jewelry cost the businessman more than $100 million. However, Vekselberg insisted that the lot be removed from the auction, so it is not known exactly how much each egg cost.

Faberge Egg "Widow (Pelican)"
The egg unfolds into 8 miniature plates with institutions founded by the Widowed Empress Maria Feodorovna. The pelican is a symbol of charity.
First owner - Alexandra Fedorovna
Virginia Art Museum, Richmond, USA 1897 By Faberge

Thus, of the currently known Easter eggs - 10 are in Moscow, in the Kremlin; 9 - in the private collection of Viktor Vekselberg; 5 - in the Museum of Fine Arts of Virginia; 3 - in the collection of Queen Elizabeth of Great Britain; 3 - in a museum in New Orleans; 6 - in the museums of Switzerland, Washington and Baltimore (two each); one each - in the collections of the Cleveland Museum and the Prince of Monaco, the rest - in private collections. The location of the two Easter eggs is unknown.

Faberge egg "Lilies of the valley"
Retractable three medallions with portraits of the emperor and his two eldest daughters Olga and Tatyana. Master Mikhail Perkhin. Modern style. As they say, the Empress's favorite egg.
First owner - Alexandra Fedorovna
Vekselberg Collection 1898 Author Faberge

Faberge egg "Pansies"
From jade. Inside the "easel" with medallions in the form of opening hearts - a genealogical tree with portraits.
First owner - Maria Fedorovna
Private collection, New Orleans 1899 By Faberge

Faberge egg "Clock (Bouquet of lilies)"
Egg clock. Jeweler - Mikhail Perkhin. The ruby ​​pandan with roses is lost.
First owner - Alexandra Fedorovna
Armory 1899 Author Faberge

In November of the past year in London, the world was surprised by the "Week of Russian Art" - auctions were held by the auction houses Sotheby's, Christie's, Bonham's and MacDougall's. On November 28, the famous Faberge egg from the Rothschild collection made its public debut. The egg - a gift from Nicholas II for the christening of Prince Imeretinsky - is a striking clock, from which, instead of a cuckoo, a cockerel studded with diamonds jumps out every hour.

Faberge egg "Cockerel"
Jeweler - Mikhail Perkhin. Singing clock with a popping cock
First owner - Maria Fedorovna
Vekselberg Collection 1900 Author Faberge

The initial price of the lot was 6-9 million pounds. As a result of active bidding, the egg was sold for a record £9.2 million to a certain Russian buyer, whose name was not disclosed. True, later information was received that Alexander Ivanov, the director of the first private museum formed in Russia, the Russian National Museum, became the happy owner of the Rothschild egg.

Prior to this, the record price was held by the "Winter Egg", which in 1913 Emperor Nicholas II presented to his mother, Empress Maria Feodorovna. At Christie`s in April 2002, it went for $9.579 million.

Some eggs, especially those with intricate surprises, took years to make. Surprises were generally the main intrigue of Faberge's Easter creations. Many of them were independent works of art: jewelry, delicate animal figurines, miniature models, images of people - as if nothing was impossible for first-class craftsmen. The secret of the egg remained undiscovered until the solemn presentation of the gift.

Faberge egg "Trans-Siberian Railway" 1900.
Surprise - train model. Jeweler - Mikhail Perkhin
First owner - Alexandra Fedorovna
Armory Chamber Author- Faberge

Carl Faberge was born on May 30, 1846 in St. Petersburg. His ancestors, who once lived in France and were staunch Huguenots, did not voluntarily leave their homeland under the Catholic king Louis XIV.

Faberge Egg "Gatchina Palace"
Image of the main country residence of the widowed empress. Not taken out.
Jeweler - Mikhail Perkhin
First owner - Maria Fedorovna
Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, USA 1901 By Faberge

Four years before Karl's birth, in 1842, his father Gustav Faberge, a jeweler, founded a company under his own name, located in one of the houses on Bolshaya Morskaya. But when Karl, the eldest of his sons, turned 14, Gustav moved with his family to Dresden. It was from there, at the insistence of his father, that Karl set off on his big “voyage”, accompanied by parting words to see Europe and learn jewelry making.

Faberge egg "Basket of flowers"
The leg was lost and restored later. Surprise Lost
First owner - Alexandra Fedorovna
Collection of Queen Elizabeth II of England 1901 By Faberge

The next Faberge egg was "Jade" 1902. It is the so-called. "Medallion of Alexander III", as it supposedly contained a portrait. Its location is unknown. The first owner is Maria Fedorovna.

Faberge egg "Clover" 1902
Openwork. Surprise lost, presumably portrait miniatures of the Grand Duchesses.
First owner - Alexandra Fedorovna
Armory by Faberge

After graduating from college in Paris, Faberge studied at the Louvre and Versailles, learning the intricacies of the jewelry art of the Venetians, Saxon stone cutters and French enamellers. He took lessons from the Frankfurt jeweler Joseph Friedman. Spiritualized and self-confident, Karl decided to return to St. Petersburg to start working there together with the masters of his father, since the company continued to exist even after the family left for Dresden. Pretty soon, Carl Faberge, 20 years old, took over his father's business.

Faberge Egg "Danish Jubilee"
Surprise - double-sided portrait of King Christian and Queen Louise, parents of the Empress, in honor of the 40th anniversary of their accession to the throne
The first owner is Maria Fedorovna.
Location unknown (lost) 1903 Author Faberge

In 1895, after the death of Agathon, a new chief artist came to the firm - Franz Birbaum. With his appearance, the products acquired a new artistic style - Faberge became interested in Art Nouveau. In 1895-1903, Mikhail Perkhin was the leading master jeweler of the House of Faberge - it was he who made most of the famous Easter eggs.

Faberge egg "Peter the Great" 1903
Inside is a model of the Bronze Horseman. 4 miniatures on the sides with views of St. Petersburg. To the 200th anniversary of the founding of the city. Rococo
First owner - Alexandra Fedorovna
Artistic Museum of Virginia, Richmond, USA By Faberge

1904 -1905 no known eggs, presumably "Resurrection" or "Bouquet of Flowers", plus 2 eggs lost and unnamed.

Faberge Egg "Resurrection"
According to one version, it could serve as a surprise for the Renaissance egg, which fits perfectly inside (without a leg added later).

Vekselberg collection

Faberge Egg "Spring Flowers"
The similarity of the bouquet with flowers from the egg "Winter" raises a question
The first owner is unknown, but most likely belongs to the Imperial series.
Vekselberg collection

The events of 1917 put an end to the Faberge case. The jeweler himself emigrated to Germany, from where he then moved to Switzerland. With his departure, the company, which the Bolsheviks had intended to take control of, ceased to exist. Carl Faberge did not much survive his offspring - he died in Switzerland in September 1920.

Faberge egg "Swan"
It does not open evenly, but as if along the cleavage line. Surprise - swan.
The first owner is Maria Fedorovna.
Edouard and Maurice Sandoz Foundation, Lausanne, Switzerland 1906 By Fabergé

And in Petrograd, in the workshops where quite recently magicians created pearls of applied art for a crowned family, the Union of Jewelers settled, later called the Leningrad Jewelery Association.

Faberge Egg "Kremlin" 1906
First owner - Alexandra Fedorovna
The largest of the eggs. The Assumption Cathedral is depicted.
Through the windows you can see the interior of the temple. Clockwork. Armouries

... Meanwhile, in the young Soviet state, painstaking work was underway to confiscate everything that had at least some relation to the royal family. All the "wealth" found, having been assessed, was immediately nationalized. Most of the Faberge Easter eggs brought from the palaces of St. Petersburg were kept in the Armory of the Moscow Kremlin until 1922, and then were transferred to the Gokhran - for sale in the antique markets of the West.

Faberge egg "Cradle with garlands"
First owner - Maria Fedorovna
Also called "Trophies of Love". The surprise is gone. Louis XVI style.
Robert M. Lee Private Collection, USA 1907 By Faberge

One of the first buyers of the valuables put up for sale, including the collection of Easter eggs, was the American businessman Armand Hammer. He obviously knew what he was doing: on his return to the United States, he managed to sell the relics to his fellow collectors at a great profit for himself. The example of an enterprising American was followed by the Englishman Emanuel Snowman from Wartski. Having acquired 9 Faberge Easter eggs in Russia, he then successfully resold them in London. Naturally, the outflow of "royal wealth" from the country, which crushed the monarchy and needed considerable funds to build a new society, free from the old vestiges, was only welcomed by its leaders.

Faberge Egg "Pink Lattice"
Surprise lost, presumably a medallion with a portrait of Tsarevich Alexei
First owner - Alexandra Fedorovna
Artistic Walters Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland, USA 1907 By Faberge

In 1927, the director of the Armory, Dmitry Dmitrievich Ivanov - now undeservedly forgotten, although he did an invaluable job to preserve many domestic works of art - turned to the Soviet government with a request to transfer the remaining Faberge masterpieces in the country to the State Treasury for safekeeping. His efforts were crowned with success - 24 Easter eggs were sent to the Armory, but, alas, not for long ...

Faberge egg "Peacock"
The peacock can be removed from the branches. Jeweler - Dorofeev. Inspired by the famous peacock clock in the Hermitage.
First owner - Maria Fedorovna
Edouard and Maurice Sandoz Foundation, Lausanne, Switzerland 1908 By Fabergé

A couple of years later, a special commission was formed in the USSR for the seizure and sale of works of art - the government urgently needed funds "for the needs of industrialization." Imperial Easter eggs were also included in the list of antique valuables to be sold. More than half of them, namely 14, were eventually sold at unacceptably low prices. Unable to bear this blow, in 1929 Dmitry Dmitrievich committed suicide ... The remaining 10 eggs, at the cost of considerable effort, were saved from sale and left in the collection of the Armory. These salvaged relics, in fact, were destined to make up the largest collection of all the imperial Faberge Easter eggs scattered around the world.

Faberge Egg "Alexander Palace"
Made from jade. Jeweler Heinrich Wigstrom.
Surprise - a model of the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo.
Miniatures - five portraits of daughters.
First owner - Alexandra Fedorovna
Armouries. 1908 Author Faberge

Faberge Egg "Commemorative of Alexander III"
Surprise - miniature bust.
First owner - Maria Fedorovna
Location unknown (lost) 1909. Author Faberge

Faberge Egg "Yacht Standart"
Image of the yacht of Emperor Alexander III
First owner - Alexandra Fedorovna
Armory 1909 Author Faberge

Faberge egg "Equestrian monument of Alexander III" 1910
Inside the model of the monument to the emperor by Paolo Trubetskoy
First owner - Maria Fedorovna
Armory by Faberge

Traditionally, on Saturdays, we publish answers to the quiz for you in the Q&A format. Our questions range from simple to complex. The quiz is very interesting and quite popular, but we just help you test your knowledge and make sure that you have chosen the correct answer out of the four proposed. And we have another question in the quiz - What was inside the first Easter egg made by C. Faberge?

• A. emerald ring
• B. portrait of the empress
• C. wheat grain
• D. golden hen

The correct answer is D. Golden Hen

Hen (The First Imperial Easter Egg)- This is a jewelry egg, which became the first in a series of fifty-two imperial Easter eggs made by Carl Faberge for the Russian imperial family. It was created by order of Emperor Alexander III in 1885. The emperor and empress liked the egg so much that Alexander III made it a tradition to order Faberge eggs for his wife every Easter.

Currently, the jewelry egg is on permanent display at the Faberge Museum in St. Petersburg, located in the Naryshkin-Shuvalov Palace.

Faberge Easter eggs are delight and luxury, an object of desire and a measure of wealth, an icon of jewelry art.

Carl Faberge - artist and entrepreneur, Supplier of the Imperial Court, Court Jeweler of the Emperor of All Russia, the King of Sweden and Norway, the King of Great Britain, the King of Siam, was awarded the Russian Orders of Stanislav and St. Anna, the Bulgarian Commander's Order and the French Order of the Legion of Honor for creating highly artistic works of art, gold medals at the All-Russian and World Exhibitions, - was able to create the largest jewelry company in Russia, whose activities determined the development of the jewelry industry in the late 19th - early 20th centuries, a time when St. Petersburg was considered one of the jewelry capitals of the world.
The year of birth of the first Faberge Easter egg is 1885. It was ordered to the jeweler by Alexander III as an Easter gift to his wife, Empress Maria Feodorovna. Moreover, when placing an order, the emperor did not say anything about how the testicle should look, but what happened delighted both the royal couple and their entire court, and then all of Europe. From then on, the imperial order for Fabergé Easter eggs became a regular occurrence, a tradition that lasted until the 1917 revolution.
Masters worked on their creation - Mikhail Perkhin, Heinrich Wigstrem, Vasily Zuev, August Holstrem, who all together performed 54 Easter eggs, never repeating themselves.
Today it is known for certain that in the period from 1885 to 1917, Faberge created 54 eggs for the imperial family. Ten of them were made during the life of Alexander III as a gift to Maria Feodorovna, the remaining 44, already commissioned by Nicholas II, for the Dowager Empress and his wife, the last Russian Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. None of these creations repeated each other, and what surprise would be hidden in the new testicle was kept in the strictest confidence. Answering the question of crowned clients what the new Easter gift would be, Faberge usually limited himself to a laconic phrase that sounded something like this: "You will be satisfied."
In addition to those made for the Romanovs, which became the property of the royal family, Faberge eggs came to Nobel, the American Duchess of Marlborough, and the aristocrat Yusupov. Irkutsk merchant, gold miner Varvara Bazanova owned seven eggs from Faberge.

No. 1. Hen. 1885

On May 1, 1885, on the day of Easter, Tsar Alexander III handed his beloved Tsarina Maria Feodorovna a completely uninteresting, white enameled egg. It was approximately 7 cm and looked like a large duck egg. Only when the empress opened the tsar's gift did it reveal its true nature: like in a complex nesting doll, it contained a yolk made of gold, inside the yolk was hidden a golden chicken sitting on a nest of golden straw, a miniature copy of the imperial crown with diamonds, inside of which lay a tiny ruby ​​pendant.
Alexander really wanted to distract his wife from terrorist threats, distract her from worrying about her position. He wanted to plunge her into memories of a happy childhood in Denmark, when Maria was still called Dagmar and when everything was still cloudless and carefree. As a child, Princess Dagmar was shown a wonderful egg from the royal collection dating back to the early 18th century. It was of ivory, not the enamel Faberge had used, and the last item to be discovered was a ring, not a pendant, but in any case the pieces were very similar.
6 weeks after the gift, the royal court issued the following announcement: “His Imperial Majesty gave his highest permission to the St. coat of arms on a shop sign. The crown and pendant have not been preserved. Sold by the Kremlin in the 1920s.

No. 2. Hen with a sapphire pendant 1886. The image has not been preserved

Unfortunately, there is no image, as well as the egg itself. The egg was supposedly transferred to the warehouse of the Kremlin Armory for storage in 1917.
A golden hen studded with rose-cut diamonds, holding a sapphire egg in its beak and sitting in a basket made of gold and diamonds. There is no mention of how the gift was valued, except that in 1887 the Tsar ordered a third egg. Then orders became regular. A tradition has arisen.
Every year the jeweler gained more and more freedom in fulfilling the annual order. Only three rules were established by the king: the gift must be oval in shape, the design must not be repeated, and each egg must contain a surprise for the empress. Other than that, even the king himself could not have known more. Faberge answered all questions kindly: "Your Majesty will be pleased." The inquisitive princess once received a caustic answer: "This year the egg will be square."

Pictured is the pendant. Gold, jade, diamonds. House of C. Faberge, workmaster M. Perkhin Russia, St. Petersburg, before 1898

№3 Blue egg-clock with a snake.

It was made in 1895 and became the first of the imperial Faberge eggs presented by Nicholas II to his mother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. Magnificent creation of Faberge in the technique of quatre couleurs in gold. Enamels of reference quality in several colors: transparent royal blue, opaque pearl white and the famous "oyster" shade. Guilloche, diamonds. h-18.3 cm. The design of the egg goes back to the best traditions of Sèvres. A snake of gold, “implanted with diamonds”, wraps around the body. She is motionless, her head pointing to a white thin panel with Roman numerals. Hidden under the panel is a complex rotating watch mechanism. Maestro Faberge was incredibly proud of the fact that only precious stones and metals mined in Siberia and the Urals were used for this egg. The object was sold through "Antiques", as usual, without drawing up a contract of sale in 1927. For many years, the WARTSKI gallery has been looking for a buyer. And found. Tycoon Stavros Niarkos, owner of an entire fleet and shipyards, purchased the egg in 1972. Finally, in 1974, this Faberge object found a safe haven. The cunning Greek presented an egg to Prince Rainier III of Monaco on the occasion of the silver jubilee of Grimaldi's accession to the throne. Immediately, the clock-egg became an object of admiration for Rainier III's wife, Princess Grace, who took it with her on official visits. In the palace, the clock was invariably kept in her private quarters. The egg-clock with a snake got a second name: "Princess Grace's Clock". After the tragic death of his wife in 1982, Prince Rainier ordered her chambers to be sealed. So that everything that the Princess cherished remained intact. In April 2005, bon vivant Prince Albert II succeeded to the throne. The object has been exhibited since 2008.

No. 4 Egg "Caucasian", 1893.

Technique - transparent enamel on a guilloché background, watercolor painting on bone, chasing, casting.
Matilda Geddings Gray Collection, New Orleans (N. Orleans Museum of Art)
Origin: Presented by Emperor Alexander III to his wife Empress Maria Feodorovna for Easter 1893.
Hammer Galleries, New York, acquired from the Soviet government around 1927.
In October 1890, the younger brother of Nikolai, Grand Duke Georgy Alexandrovich, began to have an alarming cough, later it became clear that George had tuberculosis. He spent the rest of his short life in an imperial hunting lodge in the Caucasus, where the climate was thought to be healthier than the disastrous winters and precarious summers of central Russia. As a child, George was a fair joker. After his death in 1899 at the age of only 28, Nicholas, by then Tsar, occasionally chuckled as he recalled some of his particularly successful adventures. The forced exile of Georgy thousands of miles away from the Faberge family was expressed in The Caucasian Egg. Attached to the top is a portrait of the Grand Duke, which must be viewed through a flat diamond, and along the edges of the portrait are four open panels with miniature views of the house where George spent the last years of his life. The year 1893 is indicated above the panels with diamonds. The egg itself is made of four-color gold, silver and platinum and covered with ruby ​​red enamel. The contrast between the vulgar luxury and the simple life depicted in the miniatures is striking. Perhaps this is said too strongly, but the collection of miniatures says more about loneliness than a portrait could say.

No. 5 Renaissance Egg, 1894

Master - Mikhail Perkhin
Height - 14 cm
Materials - white agate, gold, transparent green, red and blue enamel. Opaque black and white enamel, diamonds, rubies. Carving, chasing.
Forbes Collection, New York.
Origin: A gift to Empress Maria Feodorovna from Emperor Alexander III for Easter 1894.
Acquired by Armand Hammer circa 1927. Mr and Mrs Henry Talbot de Vere, Clifton, England. Mr and Mrs Jack Lynskey, New York.
The Renaissance egg is already the tenth traditional Easter egg presented to Maria Feodorovna by her husband. She received a gift in Gatchina. The egg was carved from thin transparent agate, a type of quartz. Almost as fragile as a real egg, it was decorated like a cake with diamonds, rubies and colored enamel. This is one of the few Faberge eggs that seemed to be elongated horizontally and had an unusual convex shape. Resembling a jeweled jewelry box, it was made in the form of an eighteenth-century casket that Faberge had seen in Dresden as a schoolboy. However, the contents of the egg had disappeared long ago, and without a surprise, the product itself was not very interesting. During the celebration of Easter, Maria Feodorovna's thoughts were in Germany, where the happy Nikolai finally received Alix's consent to the marriage. Alix resisted the conversion to the Orthodox faith for a very long time. It wasn't just a whim. Alix expressed firm confidence in her Protestant faith and left little room for further persuasion. In early April 1894, Nikolai officially proposed Alix's hand and heart, but was met with the same intransigence. Two hours of conversation led to nothing. All Alix could answer to Nikolai's pleas was a quiet "No, I can't," as tears rolled down her cheeks. However, Nicholas was resolute and he found allies among other royal persons. In general, the fortress fell and Maria Fedorovna, receiving another gift for Easter, was already thinking about a speedy wedding.

No. 6. Rosebud Egg, 1895

Master - Mikhail Perkhin
Materials - colored gold, transparent red and opaque white enamel. Diamonds, velvet.
Bud made of gold, opaque yellow and green enamel.
Height - 6.8cm
Origin - Forbes magazine collection, Viktor Vekselberg.
Serious things have happened this year. On October 20, 1894, Alexander III died, he was only 49 years old. The next morning there was a short service at which Alix converted to Orthodoxy. Princess Alix of Hesse, a former Lutheran, was now "of the true faith Grand Duchess Alexandra Feodorovna". A week after the funeral of her father-in-law, whom she barely knew, Alexandra Feodorovna tried on a dress worn by generations of Russian Grand Duchesses on their wedding day. A three-meter train of silver fabric was trimmed with ermine fur. They say that Maria Feodorovna commented on this: “Yes, I know how hard it is. But I am afraid that this is only the smallest of the burdens that the Russian Empress will have to bear. And Alexandra pronounced a cruel sentence on her wedding day: “The wedding seemed only a continuation of long funeral ceremonies”
"Rosebud" is the first egg presented to Alexandra Feodorovna. All. Now Alix is ​​the legal wife of Nikolai and, according to tradition, will receive a gift for Easter. That is, now we get two imperial eggs a year. Maria Feodorovna and Alexandra Feodorovna. Nikolai will give a gift to both his mother and wife. Alexandra Fedorovna received the first egg, Maria Fedorovna - 11, probably, the next one in the show will be "Twelve Monograms".
Faberge began to solve the serious problem of how to please Alexandra. The Rosebud egg was relatively small. One might consider the red color of the enamel to be too saturated, since it could resemble those bright spots that appeared on the face of the queen in public, and the choice of yellow enamel for coloring the rosebud inside the egg also seems unfortunate. Although in Germany this would be considered the noblest color for a rose, Alexandra may have been aware of the traditional use of yellow roses as a gift to signal the end of a relationship. Even so, it hardly pissed her off. She was pregnant and enjoyed her married life. In any case, she must have been fascinated by the two surprises that appeared when the petals of the bud unfolded: they were the imperial crown and a ruby ​​pendant similar to the one in the hen in the first egg given to Mary. The parallel was, of course, intentional: Faberge was looking forward to learning how his relationship with the new queen would develop, whether they would be as happy and as profitable as with her predecessor.
By the way, the egg has been restored. It was damaged during a family quarrel.
PS The crown and pendant that were inside the rose are now missing.

No. 7 Egg with a model of the cruiser "Memory of Azov", 1891

Materials - gold, platinum, diamonds, rubies, heliotrope, aquamarine and velvet.
Height - 9.3 cm
Location - State Museums of the Kremlin.
Origin - a gift to Empress Maria Feodorovna from Emperor Alexander III for Easter 1891.
In October 1890, Tsarevich Nicholas boarded the Russian naval vessel Pamyat Azov for a nine-month voyage around South Asia. His parents had many reasons to send him on this trip. Nikolai was 22 years old at that moment, he needed to broaden his horizons. This voyage could also help him forget about the beginning infatuation with Matilda Kshesinskaya, a seventeen-year-old ballerina of the imperial ballet. On this voyage, he was accompanied by George, he needed to treat his cough. And finally, this trip had a diplomatic aspect. Nicholas was supposed to represent Russia, meeting with foreign dignitaries at every stop.
The egg "memory of Azov" was presented to Maria by Alexander at a time when both of their sons were away from home. The egg contains a surprise: a replica of the gold and platinum cruiser in which the two young men traveled. The diamonds depicted portholes, the equipment was accurately copied from the original, the anchor chain and weapons moved. The model rested on a plate made of aquamarine representing water. The egg itself, just under 10 cm high, was carved from a single piece of heliotrope, veined with red and blue, and adorned with rococo gold swirls. Maria seemed to really like this egg, arousing strong emotions in her.
Whatever their Majesties' purposes were for their sons' journey, it is doubtful that they were achieved. Nicholas expanded his horizons a little; in Egypt, his attention was occupied by belly dancers, and not by local attractions. George left the ship due to the fact that his cough intensified, in addition, he developed a fever. And in Japan, a dangerous incident occurred with Nikolai. On the street, the Tsarevich was attacked by a policeman armed with a sword with the intention of hacking him to death. The prince received a rather serious wound, the scar from which remained for life, the quick reaction of cousin Nikolai saved his life. Further diplomatic curtsies were difficult for Nicholas to comply with. And, finally, when Nikolai returned to St. Petersburg, he again renewed his connection with Kshesinskaya.
Traveled on a cruiser for 9.5 months. Faberge also traveled with the princes. In Siam (Thailand) there was a stop, Faberge received an order from the Siamese king, Faberge made a jade Buddha. They returned from a trip by a “dry” way. In Vladivostok, the 1st railway was laid.

No. 8 Egg with Danish Yards 1890

Master - Mikhail Perkhin
Materials - green and rose gold, mauve opal guilloché enamel, star sapphires, emerald, rose-cut diamonds.
Red velvet pocket and lining.
Screen - green and colored gold, watercolor on mother-of-pearl.
Height - 10.1 cm
Matilda Geddings Gray Collection, New Orleans.
Origin - presented by Emperor Alexander III to his wife Empress Maria Feodorovna for Easter 1890.
Hammer Galleries, New York. Acquired from the Soviet government around 1927.
"Danish Palaces". The increase in the freedom of Faberge's creativity occurred gradually, but by 1890 it was already complete. This year's egg was so complex that it took at least 12 months to create it. This is a beautiful, brilliantly crafted piece. It is made of colored gold, covered with a perfectly smooth enamel, against the background of milky-pink transparency of which rose-cut diamonds and emeralds stand out brightly, which form a grid on its surface. The surprise hidden in the egg shows how much Faberge began to understand his true client, Maria Feodorovna. The egg opens and inside it is a golden screen with ten mother-of-pearl panels. Each panel features an elegant watercolor by court miniaturist Konstantin Krizhytsky. Five images of Danish royal residences, the next two - views of the palace in Peterhof, one panel depicts the Gatchina Palace and, finally, a series of images ended with images of two imperial yachts "Polar Star" and "Princess". Like the Hen egg made five years earlier, it reminded Maria of her childhood, but this time Faberge created a frankly personalized gift. It was a unique image of the recipient of the gift - it reminded her of her Danish origin and the luxury that she now enjoyed in Russia.

No. 9. Egg in memory of the coronation, St. Petersburg, 1897

Masters - Mikhail Perkhin and Heinrich Wigstrom, carriage - Georg Stein.
Egg height - 12.6 cm, carriage height - 9.3 cm
Materials - colored gold, transparent yellow-green and opaque black enamel. Diamonds, velvet. The carriage model is gold, platinum, red enamel, diamonds, rubies, crystal.
Origin - presented by Emperor Nicholas II to his wife Empress Alexandra Feodorovna for Easter 1897.
Acquired by Emanuel Snowman for Huartsky, London, circa 1927.
Nikolai gave Alexandra an egg, considered by many to be "Faberge's most significant work on a public occasion." It was dedicated to their joint coronation as emperor and empress in 1896 and was an example of perfection in terms of design concept, color, metal work and surprise. Made of red gold, the egg is covered with a magnificent iridescent yellow enamel, surrounded by a golden lattice, on top is a Romanov eagle made of black enamel. The color combination was supposed to evoke the golden robes that the queen wore during the ceremony. The egg contained a replica of Alexandra's coronation carriage. Its production alone took fifteen months of work by a twenty-three-year-old young jeweler Georgy Stein, whose eyes were able to cope with the creation of incredibly small details of a golden carriage. It was completely hinged, decorated with red enamel and diamonds, its windows were made of rock crystal, and its wheels were made of platinum. Even today, this exquisite work of art is surprising - the carriage gives the impression of being springy and easy to manage, which seems simply impossible.
So, on the one hand, the egg is a clear demonstration of Faberge's genius. On the other hand, from the point of view of the recipient of the egg, one could hardly have done anything less pleasant. At Easter 1897, the imperial couple would have preferred to forget the event, which was to become one of the most significant events of the reign of Nicholas. As for Alexandra, an exact copy of her carriage could only be an unpleasant memory of her trip to Moscow: the stormy greetings of her mother-in-law, the somewhat calmer reception given to her husband, and the gloomy silence that greeted her, who came from outside the German. Even then, she felt the unpopularity that would characterize her entire reign.
However, the darkest shadow was cast over the spectacle of the coronation by the tragedy that took place a few days later on the Khodynka field on the outskirts of Moscow. It was the traditional place where Muscovites welcomed their new king. But, in the thirteen years that have passed since the coronation of Alexander III, the city has expanded incredibly and the authorities were completely unprepared for the arrival of half a million people. Crush and panic. The number of those killed can only be estimated: Nikolai's officials estimated the death toll at 500 people, but the true figure is closer to 5,000. Tragedy. But what most subjects, including members of the imperial family, could not forgive Nicholas was his reaction to the tragedy. Under the influence of his imperious uncles, the king did not even offer to cancel the ball with the French ambassador, which took place that evening. The yard danced while the wounded on Khodynka were dying. The emperor's subsequent visits to the hospital and the donations he made to the families of his victims could not remedy the situation. All this left an unpleasant imprint on the rest of the reign of Nicholas.
But, Alexandra still had a particularly difficult memory of the coronation. According to her maid, Marfa Mukhanova, the stress of those days caused Alexandra to miscarry. This in itself was a rather sad event, but the most unpleasant thing was that Alexandra's doctor was convinced that the unborn child was a boy, a prince, whom she and Nikolai so desperately desired. Surely every glance at the egg reminded the Empress of her loss.
An interesting moment about the feelings of Faberge himself. He was at the coronation. Later, he told only one story about this event. Faberge followed the ceremony on her four-wheeled carriage, whose best years were behind. During the trip, the bottom fell out, but the rider continued to move on foot, moving his feet inside the convertible. A stunning image: it is clear that the jeweler was thinking of a vehicle so very different from Alexandra's carriage when creating the egg.

No. 10. Egg with lilies of the valley, Petersburg, 1898

Master - Mikhail Perkhin
Materials - gold, transparent gold and pink enamel, diamonds, rubies, pearls, crystal, ivory.
Height - 20 cm
Origin - presented by Emperor Nicholas II to his wife Empress Alexandra Feodorovna for Easter 1898.
Acquired by Emanuel Snowman for Wartsky. London, circa 1927. Collection of Forbes magazine, Viktor Veselberg.
Of all Fabergé's creations, this egg is one of the most beautiful. There is something in the Lily of the Valley egg that immediately attracts attention. Perhaps this is how, when illuminated at a certain angle, the golden tone of the substrate appears under the pink enamel. Perhaps this is the tenderness with which the pearls hang down the sides of the egg, depicting stylized lilies of the valley. They were one of Alexandra's favorite colors, and she couldn't help but appreciate the Art Nouveau style in which this egg was made - a new starting point for a jeweler who drew more inspiration from eighteenth-century French art. Alexandra herself continued to use the Art Nouveau theme when renovating the Alexander Palace.
Most of all Alexandra liked the egg surprise. When a pearl button was pressed on the side of the egg, three miniatures appeared and fanned out at the top: Nikolai in military uniform was depicted on the central one, and portraits of Grand Duchess Olga and Tatiana, Alexandra's two eldest children, were located on the sides. These were without a doubt the three people whom Alexandra loved more than anyone in the world. She was born to be a mother, and she loved her girls to the point of madness - both were then less than 3 years old - so much so that this further increased the displeasure of St. Petersburg society. Even her grandmother, Queen Victoria, who was a caring mother in her own right, thought she had taken too long to breastfeed. In the absence of a son, Faberge could not continue to create eggs that would glorify daughters that were useless for the continuation of the dynasty, however, their parents loved them very much. The Lily of the Valley egg did not become the beginning of a new series of works. Faberge had to look elsewhere for inspiration. Therefore, in the next few years, almost every egg destined for Alexandra will be an elaborate but impersonal decoration, or the emphasis will be on the main events of her husband's reign. Faberge had nowhere to turn around.

To be continued....