Fabergé egg

A Fabergé egg is any one of sixty-nine [http://www.mieks.com/Faberge2/Eggs.htm List of Fabergé eggs from mieks.com] jeweled eggs made by Peter Carl Fabergé and his assistants between 1885 and 1917.

Fifty Imperial Fabergé Easter eggs were made and presented to Czars Alexander III and Nicholas II of Russia [The Fabergé Imperial Easter Eggs,by Fabergé, Skurlov, Proler, London, 1997, page 90. ISBN 0-90343-248-X] . A further two eggs were planned but not delivered, the "Constellation" and "Karelian Birch" eggs of 1917.

Seven of the eggs were made for the Kelch family of Moscow. [http://www.mieks.com/Faberge2/Kelch-Eggs/Kelch-Eggs.htm Story of the Kelch eggs from mieks.com]

The eggs are made of precious metals or hard stones decorated with combinations of enamel and gem stones. The term "Fabergé egg" has become a synonym of luxury and the eggs are regarded as masterpieces of the jeweller's art.

History

Carl Fabergé and his goldsmiths designed and constructed the first egg in 1885. It was commissioned by Czar Alexander III of Russia as an Easter surprise for his wife Maria Fyodorovna. [http://www.mieks.com/Faberge2/1885-Hen-Egg.htm Article on the first Hen egg]

On the outside it looked like a simple egg of white enamelled gold, but it opened up to reveal a golden yolk. The yolk itself had a golden hen inside it, which in turn had a tiny crown with a ruby hanging inside, reminiscent of the matryoshka nesting dolls.

Empress Maria was so delighted by this gift that Alexander appointed Fabergé a "Court Supplier" and commissioned an Easter gift each year thereafter, stipulating only that it be unique and contain a surprise. His son, Nicholas II of Russia continued the tradition, annually presenting an egg each spring to his wife Alexandra Fyodorovna as well as his then-widowed mother.

From 1885, the eggs were produced almost every year. Once an initial design was approved, the work was carried out by an entire team of artisans under Peter Carl Fabergé, among them Michael Perkhin, Henrik Wigström and Erik August Kollin.

The Imperial eggs enjoyed such fame that Fabergé made some 15 known eggs for private clients. Among them is a series of 7 eggs made for the industrialist Alexander Kelch. In addition, 8 eggs were made. They are not as extravagant as the Imperial eggs, and are not as original, often repeating designs that originated with the Imperial eggs.

List of Fabergé Imperial Easter eggs

*1885 "Hen"
*1886 "Hen with Sapphire Pendant"†
*1887 "Blue Serpent Clock"
*1888 "Cherub with Chariot"†
*1889 "Necessaire"†
*1890 "Danish Palaces"
*1891 "Memory of Azov"
*1892 "Diamond Trellis"
*1893 "Caucasus"
*1894 "Renaissance"
*1895 "Rosebud"
*1895 "Twelve Monograms"
*1896 "Revolving Miniatures"
*1896 "Alexander III Portraits"†
*1897 "Coronation"
*1897 "Doweger (or Pelican)"
*1898 "Lilies of the Valley"
*1898 "Mauve"†
*1899 "Bouquet of Lilies Clock"
*1899 "Pansy"
*1900 "Trans-Siberian Railway"
*1900 "Cockerel"
*1901 "Basket of Wild Flowers"
*1901 "Gatchina Palace"
*1902 "Clover Leaf"
*1902 "Empire Nephrite"†
*1903 "Peter the Great"
*1903 "Royal Danish"†
*1904 "No eggs known"
*1905 "No eggs known"
*1906 "Moscow Kremlin"
*1906 "Swan"
*1907 "Rose Trellis"
*1907 "Cradle with Garlands"
*1908 "Alexander Palace"
*1908 "Peacock"
*1909 "Standart Yacht"
*1909 "Alexander III Commemorative"†
*1910 "Colonnade"
*1910 "Alexander III Equestrian"
*1911 "Fifteenth Anniversary"
*1911 "Bay Tree"
*1912 "Czarevich"
*1912 "Napoleonic"
*1913 "Romanov Tercentenary"
*1913 "Winter"
*1914 "Mosaic"
*1914 "Grisaille"
*1915 "Red Cross with Triptych"
*1915 "Red Cross with Imperial Portraits"
*1916 "Steel Military"
*1916 "Order of St. George"
*1917 "Karelian Birch"
*1917 "Constellation":"† Indicates missing egg

Other Imperial eggs

*1885-1889 "Resurrection"
*1899-1903 "Spring Flowers"

List of Fabergé Kelch eggs

*1898 "Kelch Hen"
*1899 "Twelve Panel"
*1900 "Pine Cone"
*1901 "Apple Blossom"
*1902 "Rocaille"
*1903 "Kelch Bonbonnière"
*1904 "Kelch Chanticleer"

Other Fabergé eggs

*1885-1891 "Blue Enamel Ribbed"
*1899-1903 "Scandinavian"
*1902 "Duchess of Marlborough"
*1902 "Rothschild"
*1907 "Youssoupov"
*1914 "Nobel Ice"
*1917 "Night"
*Unknown date "Lapis Lazuli"

Location of eggs

Of the sixty-nine known Fabergé eggs, only sixty-one have survived to the present day. The vast majority of them are stored in public museums, with the greatest number, thirty, in Russia. There are fifty-four known Imperial eggs, only forty-six of which have survived.

Of the lost eight Imperial eggs, photographs only exist of two, [ [http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2004/0412/233.html Egg Hunting, Pro Division - Forbes.com ] ] the 1903 "Royal Danish", and the 1909 "Alexander III Commemorative" eggs.

Only one, 1916's "Order of St. George" egg, left Bolshevik Russia with its original recipient, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. [ [http://www.treasuresofimperialrussia.com/e_chap11_srgeorge.html Faberge - Treasures of Imperial Russia ] ] The rest remained in Petrograd.

Following the Russian Revolution, the House of Fabergé was nationalized by the Bolsheviks, and the Fabergé family fled to Switzerland, where Peter Carl Fabergé died in 1920. [ [http://www.pbs.org/treasuresoftheworld/faberge/flevel_1/f7_fate_of_eggs.html Faberge Eggs - the fate of the eggs ] ] The Romanov palaces were ransacked and their treasures moved on order of Vladimir Lenin to the Kremlin Armoury. [ [http://www.pbs.org/treasuresoftheworld/faberge/flevel_1/f7_fate_of_eggs.html Faberge Eggs - the fate of the eggs ] ]

In a bid to acquire more foreign currency, Joseph Stalin had many of the eggs sold in 1927, after their value had been appraised by Agathon Fabergé. Between 1930 and 1933 fourteen Imperial eggs left Russia. Many of the eggs were sold to Armand Hammer, president of Occidental Petroleum and a personal friend of Lenin, whose father was founder of the United States Communist party, and Emanuel Snowman of the London antique dealers Wartski.

After the collection in the Kremlin Armoury, the largest gathering of Fabergé eggs was assembled by Malcolm Forbes, and displayed in New York City. Totalling nine eggs, and approximately 180 other Fabergé objects, the collection was put up for auction at Sotheby's in February 2004 by Forbes' heirs. Before the auction even began the collection was purchased in its entirety by the oligarch Victor Vekselberg for a sum estimated between $90 and $120 million. [ [http://www.energytribune.com/articles.cfm?aid=681 Energy Tribune ] ]

In November 2007, a Fabergé clock, named by Christie's auction house as the "Rothschild egg" sold at auction for £8.9 million (including commission). [The clock was previously documented and had been published in 1964 in "L'Objet 1900" by Maurice Rheims, plate 29] The price achieved set two records for auction: it is the most expensive timepiece ever sold at auction and the most expensive Russian object, including previous Faberge Eggs, ever sold at auction, surpassing the $9.6 million sale of the 1913 "Winter egg" in 2002.

ee also

*Easter eggs
*Egg decorating
*Guilloché

References

External links

* [http://home.hiwaay.net/~christel/index.html Fabergé Research Site by Christel Ludewig McCanless]
* [http://mieks.com/Faberge2/index2.htm Details on all Fabergé Eggs, Tsar Imperial, Imperial and Kelch]
* [http://andrejkoymasky.com/liv/fab/fab00.html Details on each of the Fabergé Eggs]
* [http://germslav.byu.edu/perspectives/2003/Bailey.html BYU article on the eggs]
* [http://www.fabergeeggs.org The Fabergé Egg History]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7116956.stm Rothschild Fabergé Egg]