Faberge Easter Egg Collection, Russia
A Faberge egg is any one of the thousands of jeweled eggs made by the House of Fabergé from 1885 to 1917. Most were miniature eggs that were popular gifts at Eastertide.They were worn on a neck chain either singly or in groups.
The most famous eggs produced by the House were the larger ones made for Alexander III and Nicholas II of Russia. Of the 50 made, 42 have survived.[1] A further two eggs, the Constellation and Karelian Birch eggs, were planned for 1918 but not delivered, as Nicholas II and his family were assassinated that year, and Nicholas had abdicated the crown the year before.
Seven large eggs were made for the Kelch family of Moscow.
The eggs are made of precious metals or hard stones decorated with combinations of enamel and gem stones. The Fabergé egg has become a symbol of luxury, and the eggs are regarded as masterpieces of the jeweler's art.
About Carl Faberge by H.C. Bainbdridge
Note: H.C. Bainbridge was for thirty years the close friend, associate and "ambassador" in Europe of Carl Faberge, the most famous court jeweler in history, often referred to as the "Cellini of the North". Mr. Bainbridge had the unique experience of meeting and knowing, as he charmingly phrases it: "...all the kings and all the queens, all the multi-millionaires, all the mandarins and all the maharajahs, all the dukes and all the marquises, all the earls, viscounts, barons and baronets."
How many royal "appointments" Faberge had, I never inquired. Doubtless all of them. Primarily, of course, he was Court Jeweler to the Tsars Aleksandr III and Nikolai II.
He was a genius on the rampage, always in search of something on which to vent his creative skill, and on this quest his clients helped him. Now you cannot give a pearl necklace to a Queen, or a diamond to a Rothschild, or a ruby to a Greville; they have them all. This was what set Faberge on his quest and it was just this which made him supreme. It was all those beautiful articles of fantasie, those bibelots for the table, which made his fame the world over. He became the first in Russia to make objects of elegance, taste and feeling; his work the wide world over became known as a style of its own, "Faberge".
But not only as a master of style does he deserve a niche in the pillar of fame; he gave to two new arts, enameling on gold and silver, and stone- cutting, and he brought them both to the pitch of excellence. The renaissance of both in the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries was very largely due to him. His cigarette-cases, enameled on gold and silver, are incomparable. His flowers, cut in precious and semi-precious stones, almost transcend nature in their delicate tracery and beauty of form; and his animals catch every trick and turn and are cut with a boldness and a verve which make them almost live.
With a catalogue of successes behind him, it was at the "Exposition Internationale Universelle" in Paris in 1900, that he was acclaimed Master by the Goldsmiths of France in the capital of the country from which, 215 years before, his persecuted ancestors had fled.
Here the Empresses Aleksandra Feodorovna and Marie Feodorovna lent for exhibition all their wonderful collection of Easter Eggs, given to them by the Emperors Aleksandr III and Nikolai II. These are perhaps the finest pieces which Faberge ever made; upon them he lavished every artifice of design, workmanship and mechanism. I say mechanism, because inside some of them were mechanical devices which would puzzle the skill of a most expert watchmaker to contrive. Faberge made forty-nine of them in all.
Easter was, as you know, a great time in Russia in Tsarist days. Everybody kissed everybody else, and said: "Christ is risen"; receiving in reply the words: "Verily He is risen"; and everybody gave everybody else a present. Easter Eggs took first place as the age-old symbol of "Resurrection", "New Life" and "hopefulness". Everything was adapted to the shape of them. How the first Imperial Easter Egg came to be is a romance in itself.
Faberge was an artist in more ways than one, and his unique gift was a subtle genius for creating just the right situation which evoked in his patrons the desire to possess something which, for the moment, had only taken shape in his mind. When he proposed to the Emperor Aleksandr III (the year 1885 is the nearest I can come to a date) that for the next Easter gift for the Empress he should make an egg with some surprise inside it, the Tsar was all agog to know what it was to be. To keep an Emperor on tenterhooks may quite easily prove a dangerous proceeding, but Faberge kept his secret; and, loving a joke, he produced what was, to all appearance, an ordinary hen's egg, containing a series of "surprises" wrought in gold and platinum, precious gems and enamel. The Tsar was so pleased that he gave Faberge a standing order for an egg every Easter-tide, and a bargain was struck between Emperor and Craftsman. The latter was given carte blanche to make whatever took his fancy, and the former asked no questions; the kernel of the agreement being that each egg must have some surprise inside.
During the lifetime of Aleksandr III only one egg was made each year, and this the Tsar gave to the Tsarina Marie Feodorovna. But from the time of the accession of Nikolai II, two were made each year; one to be given to the Tsarina Aleksandra Feodorovna and the other to his mother, the Dowager Empress. The yearly Easter Egg became the great surprise for the Imperial Family. Today, as the outcome of the original joke, there are in existence forty-nine Imperial eggs which for ingenuity, craftsmanship and beauty of design, it is no exaggeration to say, surpass anything of a like nature which has yet come from a goldsmith's workshop.
It never entered my head that any of these treasures would ever leave the confines of the Russian Empire where they were carefully guarded together with the rest of the Romanov Crown Jewels. However, Fate decreed otherwise. The revolution which shook Russia has brought about many strange occurrences. During the famine of 1921, a wealthy young American physician, Armand Hammer, went to Russia as a volunteer relief worker, and brought out of that country the greatest private collection of Faberge pieces in existence today. A connoisseur of art, Dr. Hammer soon saw that some of the superb treasures of a great dynasty were being swept into oblivion.
Along with paintings by great masters, he collected several hundred pieces of Faberge's finest creations, such as jeweled flowers, animals fashioned of semi-precious stones, ikons, enamels and a great variety of bibelots. Through direct negotiations with the government, Dr. Hammer was also able to purchase eleven of Faberge's priceless Imperial Easter Eggs which were found, together with the other Crown Jewels, when the Imperial Palaces fell into the hands of the present government. Some of these along with others of the Imperial Eggs loaned by H.M. the Dowager Queen Mary and H.I.H. the Grand Duchess Xenia were featured in the Imperial Russian Exhibition held in Belgrave Square, London, in 1935.
Of all the works of Faberge, the Imperial Easter Eggs are creating the greatest interest today. For all time they are a monument to his master mind and skill.
Faberge Easter Egg Gallery
Resurrection Egg
Made between 1885 and 1890, this egg is one of Faberge's masterpieces; exquisitely made in the manner of the Italian Renaissance. The three gold figures in the group are enamelled en ronde bosse - white drapery and lilac-coloured wings. The grass and the ground on which the group is arranged are enamelled pale green and brown with yellow flecks, and the base is surrounded by a narrow belt of rose diamonds.
The door is enamelled to simulate marlbe with a coral-colored handle. The whole Resurrection scene is contained within a carved rock crystal egg, the two hemispheres held together by a line of rose diamonds. A large pearl serves as the shaft for this egg.
Azova Egg (1891)
This egg is carved from a solid piece of heliotrope jasper, and is decorated in the Louis XV style with yellow gold scrolls set with brilliant diamonds and chased gold glowers; the broad fluted gold bezel is set with a drop ruby clasp. A tiny replica in gold of the Pamiat Azova set on a piece of aquamarine is contained inside the egg.
Renaissance Egg (1894)
Carved from a block of milky agate, this egg, mounted horizontally on a gold enameled base, is fashioned as a jewel casket. Individual fancy and lineal pattern in Renaissance effectiveness are skilfully combined in the applied gold trelliswork pointed by diamonds and rubies at the interstices; and in the play of emerald, ruby and lapis-blue enamels in scroll and conventionalized design.
A scalloped tracery in diamonds on the cover encloses a ruby-enameled medallion variously ornamented with repeated foliate motifs in colorful enamels and the year in diamonds. Gold heraldic lions' heads at either end terminate slender loop handles. The opening is secured by a tiny gold and diamond latch, while engagingly designed inner rims are developed in opaque white enameling and gold floral patterns.
Caucasus Egg (1893)
Varicolored gold garlands held by diamond bowknots mount this gold egg, overload with vibrant ruby enamel on a guilloche'undersurface. An extraordinary table-top diamond, gem-encircled, crowns the object; another completes the base.
Depicting views of mis mountain retreat high in the Caucasus where the Grand Duke Georg, younger brother of Nikolai II, because of ill health spent the greater part of his life, miniatures executed and signed by Krijitski are revealed on opening the four pearl-bordered doors around the egg. Each of these bears a diamond-set numeral of the year.
Danish Palaces Egg (1895)
A star sapphire within a cluster of rose diamonds and chased gold laurel leaves surmounts this trois-couleur gold egg which is enamelled a translucent pink on a guilloche pattern of repeated crosses. The egg is divided into twelve panels by broad bands consisting each of a line of rose diamonds within continuous laurel leaf borders chased in gold, an emerald is set at each intersection of the lines of rose diamonds.
A folding screen of miniature paintings framed in vari-coloured gold is recessed within the egg. Painted on mother-of-pearl, eight of the ten panels depict palaces and residences in Denmark where the Empress spent her childhood.
Revolving Miniatures Egg (1896)
Banded in diamonds and translucent emerald enamel, it is surmounted by a rare Siberian emerald weighing 27 karats, cun en cabochon and pointed. On a plinth of rock crystal, the double spheroidic base in contrastingly colorful enamels, twice circled with diamonds, is designed with monograms of the Tsarina, as the Princess Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt, before her marriage, and later as Aleksandra Feodorovna, Empress of Russia. Above these appears a series of diamond crowns of the respective royal houses.
Within the egg twelve signed miniatures by Zehngraf, framed in gold and controlled by the emerald at the apex, revolve on a columnar axis. These, showing the royal residences in Germany, England and Russia associated with the life of the Tsarina, include views of palaces in and near Darmstadt, Hesse; Balmoral and Windsor Castles, and Osborne House in the British Isles; the Winter, Antichkov and Aleksandr Palaces of Russia.
Coronation Egg (1897)
This superb red gold egg enamelled translucent line yellow on an engraved field, is enclosed by a green gold laurel leaf trellis-work cage mounted at each intersection by a yellow gold Imperial double-headed eagle enamelled opaque black, and set with a rose diamond. A large portrait diamond is set in the top of the egg within a cluster of ten brilliant diamonds; through the table of this stone, the monogram of the Empress is seen. Amother, smaller, portrait diamond is set within a cluster of rose diamonds at the end of the egg, beneath which the date is inscribed on a similar plaque.
Concealed inside this elaborate shell is an exact replica of the Imperial coach used in 1896 at the Coronation of Nicholas and Alexandra in Moscow. In yellow gold and strawberry coloured translucent enamel, the coach is surmounted by the Imperial Crown in rose diamonds and six double-headed eagles on the roof; it is fitted with engraved rock crystal windows and platinum tyres, and is decorated with a diamond-set trellis in gold and an Imperial eagle in diamonds at either door.
Dowager Empress Marie Federovna Egg (1897)
Coincident with the centennial celebration of the patronage of charitable institutions by the Empresses of Russia, this gold egg is engraved with the commemorative dates "1797-1897"; and with the motifs of the Arts and Sciences. It is surmounted with the figure of a pelican and its young, in diamonds and opalescent white enamel, representing tenets of the Christian Faith, Charity and Sacrifice.
Unfolding into eight oval panels, each rimmed in pearls, miniatures by Zehngraf are revealed of the institutions of which the Dowager Empress was patroness, founded principally for the education of young girls. Closed, the panels form the enitre egg, the surface separations of which are ingeniously concealed.
Lilies of the Valley Egg (1898)
Gold egg enamelled translucent rose on a guilloche field and supported on four dull green gold cabriolet legs composed of overlapping leaves veined with rose diamonds. The egg is surmounted by a rose diamond and cabochon ruby Imperial Crown set with two bows and quartered by four lines of rose diamonds and decorated with lilies-of-the-valley in pearls and rose diamonds.
The surprise consists of three oval miniatures of Nicholas II in military uniform, and the Grand Duchesses Olga and Tatiana, his first two children, within rose diamond borders which rise out of the top of the egg.
Madonna Lily Egg (1899)
This egg takes the form of a clock with a revolving dial. The four- coloured gold egg is enamelled translucent daffodil-yellow, and is richly set with diamonds. It stands on an onyx platform decorated with coloured gold scroll mounts, rosettes and the year in diamonds, and is designed as a vase with red gold scrolls serving as extra supports at either side. The belt of the dial which divides the egg is enamelled opaque white with diamond set numerals and the hours are pointed by the head of an arrow in a drawn bow. The gold rim of the vase is chased as a cluster of roses; a bunch of Madonna lilies carved from quartzite and each set with rose diamonds emerges from the vase.
Trans-Siberian Railway Egg (1901)
A map of the route of the Trans-Siberian railway as it was in 1900, from St. Petersburg to Vladivostock, engraved on silver, each station marked by a precious stone, forms a broad belt around this translucent green enamelled gold egg decorated with blue and orange enamel mounts. The egg is surmounted by a three-headed Eagle in gold bearing the Imperial Crown and is supported by three Romanov Griffins each brandishing sword and shield, and mounted on a white onyx base.
Within is concealed, in three sections, a miniature replica of the Trans- Siberian Express, the engine and tender in platinum and gold, and five coaches in gold; the three parts may be connected to form a train which runs along when the clockwork locomotive is wound up above the driving wheels.
Cukoo Egg (1900)
Clock in dull yellow, green and red golds, enamelled opalescent white and translucent violet on a zig-zag guilloche field, set with pearls and rose diamonds. The dial, which is encircled by pearls set in red polished gold, is enamelled with translucent emerald green trefoils, and the rose diamond numerals are set on pale greenish white opalescent enamel within opaque white enamel rings. A yellow gold leaf pattern surrounds the central pivot on which the red gold hands revolve.
The egg is supported on an elaborate base set with three large rose diamonds by a central shaft and three struts enamelled opalescent white. When a button at the back of the clock is pressed, the circular pierced gold grille which surmounts it opens, and a cukoo, plumed with natural feathers, set with cabochon ruby eyes, and standing on gold legs, rises crowning on a gold platform, the beak and wings moving authentically, until the crowing finished, it descends once again into the egg.