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Fabergé egg

Jewelled Easter eggs created by the House of Fabergé for Russian tsars.

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The jewellery firm House of Fabergé, based in Saint Petersburg, Russia, produced the first jewelled egg.[1] During the Tsarist period, up to 69 eggs were manufactured; records indicate 61 still exist.[1] Collectors place a very high value on these eggs.[2]

Quick Facts

Field
Jewellery and decorative arts
Nationality
Russian
Known for
Imperial Easter eggs
Total created
As many as 69 eggs during the Tsarist era
Surviving imperial eggs
44 of 50 delivered imperial eggs known to exist
Period of creation
1885–1917

Facts from the source article.

Key facts and history

Tsar Alexander III (10 eggs) and Tsar Nicholas II (40 eggs) ordered these eggs as Easter presents.[3] The initial egg, called the Hen Egg, featured a 2.5-inch outer shell made of enamel and a central golden band.[4] A tiny diamond copy of the imperial crown and a ruby pendant were originally inside the hen, but both items are now missing.[5] After a period of six weeks, the emperor appointed Fabergé as the official supplier to the imperial court.[5]

Alexander Kelch, an industrialist, commissioned twelve eggs from Fabergé, but evidence suggests only seven were finished.[6] In 1918, the Bolsheviks nationalized the Fabergé workshop, prompting the Fabergé family to depart from Russia.[6]

What the cited sources add

The first Easter Egg of 1885 marked the twentieth anniversary of Tsar Alexander III and Tsarina Maria Feodorovna.[7] The egg was a variation on an egg in the Danish Royal Collection, which Fabergé probably saw during his travels through Europe.[7] The Fabergé Research Site notes that H. C. Bainbridge was adamant that Fabergé approached the tsar with the idea for the eggs.[8] Kieran McCarthy of Wartski gave a first-hand account of the rediscovery of the 1887 Third Imperial Easter Egg.[8]

That egg was sold by a dealer to Wartski London and bought by an identified buyer for an undisclosed sum, estimated at about £20 million.[8] The architect Carl Schmid, a cousin of Fabergé, assisted the Kelchs with the remodeling of their mansion.[9] Every year from 1898 until 1904 Alexander Kelch ordered an Easter Egg from Fabergé, modeled on the Imperial series, as a present for his wife.[9]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Fabergé egg" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Nine Facts About Fabergé Eggs", Jewellery Discovery; Love, "Easter in Images: Book 2 History Events", Suzi Love, 1 April 2014; Collinson, "Documenting Design: Works on Paper in the European Collection of the Royal Ontario Museum", Royal Ontario Museum, 1993; "Fabergé Imperial Eggs – Discover the Legendary Collection of Exquisite Jewellery and Objets", FABERGÉ; "Fabergé Research Site – Eggs – Fabergé Imperial Egg Chronology", Fabergé Research Site (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Fabergé egg" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Fabergé Imperial Eggs – Discover the Legendary Collection of Exquisite Jewellery and Objets", FABERGÉ (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Fabergé egg" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Fabergé eggs, marble sausage go on display in Moscow", Reuters, 7 April 2011; "Suspected Fabergé egg found on Russian oligarch's superyacht, US investigators say", the Guardian, 21 July 2022 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Fabergé egg" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Faber 2008, p. 14; Faber 2008, p. 14; "Article on the first Hen egg", wintraecken.nl, 13 November 2008 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Fabergé egg" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Faber 2008, p. 14; "Article on the first Hen egg", wintraecken.nl, 13 November 2008; Faber 2008, p. 14; Faber 2008, p. 14; Snowman, "The Art of Carl Fabergé", New York Graphic Society., 1974 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Fabergé egg" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Fabergé Eggs: 8 Little Known Facts", Barnebys, 15 April 2019; "The 7 Kelch Eggs", Mieks Fabergé Eggs, 3 January 2021 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  7. "Article on the first Hen egg", wintraecken.nl, 13 November 2008. facts only, no text reused. wintraecken.nl
  8. "Fabergé Research Site – Eggs – Fabergé Imperial Egg Chronology", Fabergé Research Site. facts only, no text reused. fabergeresearch.com
  9. "The 7 Kelch Eggs", Mieks Fabergé Eggs, 3 January 2021. facts only, no text reused. wintraecken.nl

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Fabergé egg (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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