Sunday, April 9, 2023

A Fabergé Egg, Easter 2023

Over the years we have posted most of the fifty Imperial eggs and one of the non-Imperial (the Rothschild Clock Egg). On Easter Sunday we have sometimes posted the only egg with an overtly religious theme, the Resurrection egg.

As long-time readers know, most of the eggs are bejeweled, sometimes heavily, and often so ornate they make baroque style look plain. This year however we are going to post one of the two 1916 eggs which, though it is not somber, is very different in comparison to the rest of the tiny treasures.

From Mieks, one of the best scholarly sources on the internet:

1916 Steel Military Egg

Gift Nicholas II to Alexandra Feodorovna
Made in Saint Petersburg
Owner:
Kremlin Armoury Museum, Moscow
Height: 10,1 cm. (incl. stand: 16,7 cm.)
Height: miniature: 6,5 cm

Steel Military Egg

The 1916 Steel Military Egg, also known as Steel Egg with Miniature Easel, is made of gold, steel, jade white enamel, silk and velvet. The miniature easel is made of steel gold, opaque black, orange and white enamel, and watercolor on ivory. The base is made of gold, steel and nephrite.

The steel Egg, with gold patterns surmounted by a gold crown, rests on four artillery shells....

....MUCH MORE