Imperial Russian Easter Egg 1896

Containers:

Box SC-07 Box 1, Folder 10, Item SC07.02.3.173

Creator:

Hammer Galleries

Extent:

1 page

Scope and content:

Transcription: [On Hammer Galleries stationery, insignia of the Galleries with its double-headed eagle to the left of header; to the right, insignia with the inscription "By appointment to His Majesty the King of Egypt] IMPERIAL RUSSIAN EASTER EGG *1896* Presented by the Tsar Nikolai II to his wife, the Tsarina Aleksandra Feodorovna, at Eastertide in the year of their Coronation in Moscow, the magnificent Imperial Easter Egg is rock crystal and gold inlaid with rare champleve enamel and set with gems is one of the monumental works of the illustrious Russian Court Jeweler, Karl Faberge. One of the fabulous forty-nine jeweled Easter gifts in the form of eggs symbolic of New Life, Resurrection and Hopefulness, received by the Empresses Maria Feodorovna and Aleksandra Feodorovna at the height of the Easter Festivals, the rock crystal egg is surpassed by no other one of the artist's creations, and it is said that neither is it equaled in purity of form and adroit workmanship by any of the other jeweled eggs. Fashioned in a block of rock crystal hollowed to remarkable thinness, banded in diamonds and translucent emerald enamel, it is surmounted with a twenty-seven carat Siberian emerald cut en cabochon and pointed. It is mounted on a pedestal of gold inlaid with brilliant varicolored enamel wrought in a series of monograms of the recipient as the Princess Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt before her marriage, and later as Aleksandra Feodorovna, Empress of Russia. Above these appear diamond crowns of the respective royal houses, and narrow diamond borders enframe the spheroidic steps of the pedestal which rises from a circular stepped base in rock crystal. Within the egg, twelve handpainted miniatures on ivory, signed, by Zehngraf, framed in gold and controlled by the emerald at the apex, revolve on a gold columnar axis. These, of the royal residences in Germany, England and Russia associated with the life of the Tsarina, include views of palaces in and near Darmstadt, Hesse, such as the Neue Palais at Darmstadt and Kranichstein in Hesse; Rosenau, Coburg; Balmoral and Windsor Castles and Osborne House in the British Isles; the Winter, Anitchkov and Aleksandr Palaces of Russia. Fully hallmarked, the object bears the master's name in Russian, the Russian initials "MP" for Mikhail Perchin, one of Faberge's chief assistants – himself a creative artist in precious metals and a person of singular ability; the numeral "56" which is the Russian equivalent of fourteen karat gold, and the crossed anchors and sceptre device of the St. Petersburg assay office. The overall height of the rock crystal Easter egg is 9 ¾ inches. It is contained in the original case of velvet, lined in satin and stamped with Faberge's insignia. Lillian T. Pratt [Small typescript note attached] NOTE: SEE PHOTOGRAPHS OF MINIATURES IN INSIDE OF CRYSTAL BALL OF RUSSIAN IMPERIAL EASTER EGG. THE WRITING ON THE BACK OF THE PHOTOGRAPHS WHICH GIVES LOCATION OF THE RESIDENCES IS SAID TO BE THE HANDWRITING OF QUEEN MARY.

Language:

English

Acquisition information:

Gift of Lillian Thomas Pratt.

Biographical / historical:

American--1

Physical description:

Paper

Physical facet:

Sales records

Other descriptive data:

Hammer Collection, Hammer Galleries, Fifth Avenue

Digitization of the Lillian Thomas Pratt Archives has been made possible by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Related material:

47.20.32

Names:

Hammer Galleries

Places:

New York (N.Y.)

Access and use