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Fabergé EggsThe name of Carl Fabergé is most often associated...... with the brilliant art of the decorative Easter egg. For well-known reasons, until recently Fabergé's decorative Easter eggs were better known outside of Russia. All in all it is known about the creation of 71 Easter eggs. Fabergé craftsmen made 54 Easter eggs for Alexander III and Nicholas II. Alexander III presented 10 Easter eggs to his wife in 1885-1894. Nicholas II in 1894-1917 ordered 44 Easter eggs as gifts for his mother, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, and his wife Alexandra Feodorovna. Seven Easter eggs were created for L. F. Kelch, the owner of several gold mines in Siberia. Elegant and expensive Easter gifts were also made for Prince F. F. Yusupov and the Duchess of Marlborough, often containing various surprises. These were Easter eggs with complex winding mechanisms, which were wonders of jewellery art, the creation of each of which was very expensive. The specimens were kept in special cases or safes and were only taken out for display during Easter. 
The first Easter egg of 1885 was made by the master Mikhail Perkhin. A twenty-six-year-old resident of Petrozavodsk, he became chief craftsman at the Fabergé firm in 1886. His initials were placed on all the surprise eggs made for Tsar Alexander III and Nicholas II until 1903, the year of his death. The first egg, executed by Perkhin, consisted of a shell shell covered in matt white enamel, inside which was a yolk made of matt gold and containing a hen of multicolored gold with ruby eyes. Inside it was a gold crown studded with pearls. And in the crown is a gold ring, later replaced at the tsar's request by a pendant. It was from 1885 that the annual tradition of presenting Fabergé Easter Eggs as souvenirs began. "Your Majesty will be pleased," was the answer the famous craftsman usually gave when asked about the subject of the next egg. Fabergé never made exact copies. All his works bear the stamp of a unique individual handwriting, forever remained in the history of world art. List of Fabergé Easter EggsThe following is a list of all currently known Fabergé Easter Eggs, sorted by date - from newer to earlier.
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Humpty Dumpty
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Made of gold, diamonds and moonstone, decorated with a mosaic of dark blue lapis lazuli depicting the evening sky. On the front surface a gold gate is made; if it is open, one can see the engraved garden of Peterhof.
The last Imperial Egg was not finished. The egg, made of dark blue cobalt glass, is a celestial sphere. The position of the stars in the sky at the time of Tsesarevich Alexei's birth is engraved on it. The clock and diamond stars have disappeared or were not made. Discovered in 2001 in the collections of the Mineralogical Museum.
The Imperial Egg is made of Karelian birch and gold. The surprise, a mechanical elephant made of gold and silver and decorated with diamonds, is lost.
On a light background of light, slightly greenish enamel with easy nacreous effect the green grid and a ribbon of an award of Saint George are put. On both sides of egg on the hinges are fixed superimposed marks of St. George's awards and medals, opening at pressing the button under which there are portraits of emperor Nikolay II and cesarevitch Alexey Nikolaevich.
Among the brilliant series of precious Easter gifts stands out an egg created in 1916 for Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. It is emphatically simple, without precious stones, and in addition is made of a material unusual for imperial gifts - steel. The steel egg was created during the First World War, a difficult time for Russia and for the royal family. There are several versions of the more than restrained design of the Easter gift.
The folding egg is made of gold and covered with white enamel. On both sides of the egg are red crosses covered with translucent red enamel. Inside the egg is a triptych: Christ's Resurrection in the center, St. Olga on the left, and St. Martyr Tatiana on the right.
The Imperial Egg is made of silver, gold, and decorated with iridescent white and transparent red enamel. The surprise is an articulated, collapsible screen with five oval miniatures depicting members of Emperor Nicholas II's family in the form of nurses.
The seemingly simple shape of this piece of jewelry is deceptive. The enamel coating itself is unique: a combination of alternating layers of silver, white, and transparent enamel, each separately painted and engraved, simulating a frosted icy surface that shimmers to create the impression of a frosty winter morning.
The Easter jewelry egg is collected from system of yellow gold belts to which the platinum network decorated with diamonds, sapphires, rubies, emeralds, quartz, topaz and a green garnet is attached. The surprise is a miniature cameo with profiles of the children of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna.
The egg is made of gold, pink and white enamel. On the sides there are miniatures with allegorical scenes of arts and sciences. The surprise, a mechanical palanquin with Catherine the Great seated inside, was lost.
Egg is established on the base made of rock crystal, decorated in the form of melting ice, with streams from platinum and diamonds. The egg itself also is made of rock crystal. The surprise is a basket of snowdrops.
Egg, executed for the tercentenary of the House of Romanov, is decorated with eighteen miniature portraits of representatives of the reigning dynasty. On the top and bottom on egg the flat brilliants through which it is visible dates "1613" and "1913" are strengthened. Inside egg the rotating steel blued globe on which the gold-stamped image of Northern hemisphere is placed twice: on one - in color gold the territory of Russia in borders of 1613, on another - in borders of 1913.
Egg in Louis XV style is executed from a single piece of lapis lazuli. A surprise - a diamond double-headed eagle with a miniature portrait of Tsarevich Alexey.
Imperial Egg "Napoleonic" is made in honor of the hundredth anniversary of the Patriotic War of 1812. The surprise is a screen with 6 miniatures depicting representatives of the regiments, whose honorary colonel was the Empress.
The Easter Egg is divided into eighteen segments with sixteen miniatures. Seven oval miniatures are made in the form of portraits of the emperor's family in diamond frames. The remaining nine miniatures depict important events in the life of Nicholas II. The egg contains no surprise.
The laurel tree is a tree formed of jade with a branching tangled structure of branches, decorated with precious stones in the form of fruit and flowers, enameled in white enamel with diamonds set. The surprise is a mechanical bird capable of turning its head, opening its beak, singing and waving its wings.
The Imperial Egg Clock was made in honor of the birth of the long-awaited heir. The egg is a kind of allegory and represents a temple of love, in which a pair of doves symbolizes the emperor and his wife, the cherubs represent the emperor's four daughters, and Cupid symbolizes the newborn Tsarevich Alexei.
Imperial egg with a miniature copy of the monument to Alexander III, made of gold and lapis lazuli.
Imperial Egg. Made of rock crystal and lapis lazuli. Surprise - model of the yacht of Emperor Alexander III, made of gold.
Imperial jeweler Easter egg "Alexander III Commemorative" entirely is made of platinum, it is completely covered by white matte enamel with gold lines, is decorated by groups of diamonds in the form of a rhombus located around the central part of a jeweler egg. The surprise is a miniature bust of Emperor Alexander III. One of the lost imperial eggs.
On a stand of gilded silver rests a transparent egg, both halves of which are carved in rock crystal and mounted in a rim with a clasp. Inside the egg, on an inlaid gold tree, among branches covered with precious stones and enameled flowers, sits a golden peacock painted with colored enamels.
The jade egg consisting of two parts connected by the hinge, is decorated by five tiny water color portraits of children of Nikolay II, framed by diamonds, above portraits the initial letters of names of children, put by diamonds are placed. The surprise model of the Alexander Palace is made of gold and silver, the windows of the palace are of rock crystal, and the roof is covered with light green enamel. The model is mounted on a gold table with an engraved inscription on the base "ЦАРСКОСЕЛЬСКИЙ ДВОРЕЦ" (Tsarskoye Selo Palace).
Jewelry Easter egg is made in the form of desk clock in Louis XVI style, from yellow and red gold, diamonds, emeralds, pearls, rubies, white onyx, transparent crimson, pink and opaque white enamel. The case is made of gilded silver with hand guilloche and covered with transparent pink enamel.
Gold egg is covered with pale green enamel and decorated with a diamond lattice and rosebuds covered with matte, light and dark pink enamel, with emerald green leaves. On the top and bottom of the egg are large diamonds. The bottom diamond has the inscription "1907" on it. The surprise is lost.
Also known as the Trophies of Love. Egg rests in a gold cradle on four columns of the colored gold, fixed on the carved oval white base from onyx. The surprise is lost.
This is the largest of the Fabergé Imperial Eggs. Its decoration, covered in white transparent enamel and topped with a polished gold dome, is inspired by the architecture of the Assumption Cathedral. The egg has a musical mechanism.
Jewelry egg "Swan" is covered with lilac matte enamel, opens not evenly, but as though on a chipped line, within a curved lattice the ribbons are decorated with diamonds. In the middle of the egg contains a surprise basket with a mechanical swan. The basket forms garlands of white, yellow and rose gold flowers edging the aquamarine base.
The egg is based on the Imperial Cockerel Egg (1900) and practically repeats the Rothschild Clock Egg made in 1902.
The body of jewelry Easter egg is made of bovenite, decorated with silver, molding, chasing, engraving. On the forward surface of Easter egg the round dial of clock with the Roman figures which are framed by a silver wreath from which silver ornaments depart.
It is made of red and green gold, suede, is enameled by transparent strawberry-red, white and matte yellow enamel. A miniature golden hen is placed in the yolk of jewelry egg. Is a representative of a number of eggs such as Hen.
The appearance of the Easter Egg is almost identical to the Gatchina Palace Egg made by Perkhin in 1901 for the Russian Emperor's family, but this time as a surprise the craftsman made an agate case with a miniature pendant.
It is made of red, green and yellow gold, platinum, pink diamonds, rubies, rock crystal, enamel and miniatures, water color. On the top part of egg an enamel wreath which surrounds a monogram of Nikolay II. In the bottom part egg is decorated with a double-headed imperial eagle, from black enamel, topped with two diamonds. Surprise: when the egg opens, the internal mechanism lifts a tiny gold model of the Bronze Horseman - a monument to Peter the Great.
The egg was made of gold, decorated with white and blue enamel. In the center is a crowned medallion with a monogram, resembling the letter "M"; in the background of the medallion, apparently, a heraldic mantle and crossed ears or flowers. On top of the egg, covered with a gold grid, is a miniature figure of the Danish royal elephant. The egg is supported by three heraldic lions, which, in turn, stand on a three-pillar pedestal.
Egg-clock is made of gold, decorated with diamonds, transparent pale pink and white enamel, platinum, is belted with a frieze laid out of pearls. A clock is built into the egg. The opening top of jewelry egg is made of pink gold, and under it there is a surprise hidden: a mechanical, brightly enameled gold cockerel decorated with diamonds.
Egg-clock is executed in neoclassical style in the form of clock with the rotating dial fashionable in last third of XVIII century, in an epoch of Louis XVI. Repeats a type of imperial egg "Clock with a blue snake".
Egg is covered by transparent green enamel on guilloche to a background. It is decorated by an unprofitable openwork ornament in Rococo style. Surprise in the form of an engraved heart with three miniatures inside. There are no miniatures. When opened, the heart resembles the petals of a flower.
Egg is made in the art nouveau style. Its form is formed by a pattern of stalks and leaves of a clover. The part of leaves is filled with light green transparent enamel, and some leaves are decorated with small diamonds. In between the leaves, thin ribbons set with rubies.
The Imperial Egg was until recently considered lost. It was first identified in 2000. Egg with opening flaps, fixed on pins between two jade columns, established vertically on a massive jade base.
Other names: "Apple Blossom", "Jade", "Jade Box". The egg is made of solid Siberian green jade. The egg stands on four carved gold legs in the shape of apple tree branches. These branches of red and green gold form a branched interlacing of twigs and knots. The surprise egg is lost.
Imperial egg Faberge is executed in the form of the flower basket covered with white enamel and interrupted by a twisting lattice from gold and diamonds. In a front part of egg there is a date "1901", executed in the same style as a lattice. The base of the bouquet of flowers is a "moss" made of metal thread. The flowers themselves are also made of gold and painted enamel in various shades. In addition to the above, gold serves as the material of the handle of the basket, inlaid with diamonds.
After turning the lid of the jeweled Easter egg, we see a miniature model of the Gatchina Palace (Maria Feodorovna's residence outside of St. Petersburg). The copy is made down to the smallest detail: you can see the cannons, the statue of Paul the First, and other elements of the landscape, right down to the trees and bushes.
Surface of Easter egg is guilloche, covered with translucent enamel of royal blue color and ornament of platinum garlands inlaid with diamonds. Inside egg there is a mechanical elephant decorated with jewels on which the mahout sits, and a winding key.
This egg has a special place in the collection of Fabergé Eggs in the Armory, because the surprise it contains is mechanical. The egg itself is made of silver. The lid is hinged, covered with green enamel and decorated with acanthus inlaid leaves. The miniature replica train is made of gold and platinum. A gold key can be used to set it in motion.
Egg-watch with crowning cockerel. Surface of egg is covered with purple enamel. In its middle there is a dial of hours decorated with enamel and diamonds; the frame of a dial is executed in the form of a gold laurel wreath with "berries" from diamonds and pearls. The surprise of the egg is a rooster with ruby eyes that can sing, open its beak and flutter its wings.
Made of gold, quartz and onyx, decorated with silver, platinum, rubies, brilliants. The appearance of this jewelry item is very similar to the Easter egg "Bouquet of Lilies". The surprise is a working clock mechanism.
The surface of jewelry egg is divided by strips of matte gold into 12 panels decorated with rows of pink roses from enamel with gold stalks and transparent green leaves. The surprise egg is lost.
The outside of egg is covered by transparent strawberry-red enamel on guilloché background with gold superimposed curls. Its flaps open on the vertical seam, trimmed with a belt of diamonds. Inside egg is a surprise in the form of a miniature taken out basket with snowdrops which petals are made of chalcedony, and pestles from demantoid.
"Bouquet of lilies" is one of the highest Faberge eggs. The egg is made in the form of an antique French clock from the time of Louis XVI. The surprise is lost, but judging from early photographs of the egg, it was a ruby pendant with a diamond rose.
Egg is cut out of a whole nephrite, flowers are executed of gold, nephrite and diamonds. The top petals of pansies are from gold covered with opaque enamel, the bottom ones are diamonds. The surprise is a heart-shaped easel with eleven strawberry berries decorated with personal monograms (genealogical tree with portraits). When you press the button, all the medallions open, revealing portraits of members of the Imperial family.
The Kelch Hen Egg echoes the iconography of Fabergé's first Imperial Hen Egg, but it is much more luxurious and exceeds the Imperial Hen Egg in size.
It is executed in style modern. Egg, made of translucent pink enamel with guilloche surface, is on the gold support with four legs. On egg the dandelions made of green enamel, gold and pearls are attached. By rotation of a pin with a pearl from the top three medallions with images of Nikolay II in a military uniform and Grand Duchesses Olga and Tatiana are put forward.
Pelican Easter Egg became memorable in a token of 100-year (1797-1897) patronage of charitable establishments by Russian empresses. This egg is one of the few that does not have an enamel coating of its entire surface. It is covered with engraved red gold in empire style and topped with a pelican of matte gray, blue and pink enamel. The pelican, with its diamond-encrusted wings, feeds its babies in a golden nest, symbolizing motherly care and love.
Egg was made in memory of ceremony of crowning of Nikolay II. It is one of the most known products of firm Faberge. Multi-colored gold, transparent lemon-yellow and matte black and blue enamel, diamonds and lining of white velvet. Inside egg there is a tiny copy of a carriage in which Alexandra Fedorovna went to a coronation ceremony.
Exact design of egg remains unknown. On the basis of the information from the account of Faberge for the given jeweler egg it represents "pink and purple enamel egg with 3 miniatures".
The outer shell of rock crystal is bounded by a thin gold band covered in emerald-green enamel and inlaid with diamonds. Jeweler egg is crowned with 27 carat Siberian emerald located on a gold substrate covered with emerald-green enamel. The leg of the egg is set on a pedestal of rock crystal. The leg consists of a colorfully painted enameled gold double spheroid surrounded by two circles of rose-cut diamonds.
Egg is considered one of the most beautiful creations of Faberge's firm. It consists of 6 panels covered with dark blue, guilloché enamel ornaments. They are dissected by relief hoops inlaid with rose-cut diamonds. At the intersections of the hoops are larger diamonds set on gold pads. On each panel are the monograms "МФ" (Maria Feodorovna) and "AIII" (Alexander III), set with diamonds, above which is the imperial crown of diamonds.
Made of bovenite, garlands of red gold girdle around the top of egg. It is decorated with 19 diamonds, including one large diamond on the top of egg, 6 rubies of facet cabochon on garlands and 3 rubies on a breast of cherubs. The egg is supported by three gold cherubs standing on a base also made of gold. On the bottom of the egg the emblem of the Denisov family is engraved.
Egg opens as bonbonniere, revealing the rosebud covered with yellow enamel and hidden inside. The petals of a rosebud opened, revealing a gold crown with diamonds and rubies and a pendant with a star-shaped ruby cabochon. Both of these latter surprises are lost. The crown was an indication of Alexandra Feodorovna's new title as Empress of the Russian Empire.
The egg rests on a gold stand decorated with opal white enamel patterns. Three panels of the stand are covered with gold in four colors, symbolizing art and science. The gold snake, inlaid with diamonds, winds around the base and reaches the center of the egg. The snake's head and tongue indicate the current hour, displayed in Roman numerals on a rotating white panel.
Inside the transparent egg is a sculptural group representing Christ and two kneeling angels standing on either side of his tomb. This egg has no surprise. A number of researchers and art historians believe it is possible to speculate that the Resurrection Egg is itself a lost surprise contained in the Renaissance Egg (1894).
The casket in the form of egg made of transparent bluish-milk agate lies horizontally on the oval gold basis. The top part of egg opening on the gold hinge, is decorated by an unprofitable trellis executed of white enamel with diamond and ruby flowers on places of crossings. On the top half of egg in diamonds the date "1894" in an oval from strawberry-red transparent enamel, framed by stylized shells from green enamel and figures from red and white enamel is laid out.
The late Louis XV style souvenir egg has four oval "windows," each of which is closed by an oval door with a border of pearls. On the outside, in the center of each of the doors is a diamond wreath supporting a number. Together they make up the number 1893. On the sides of each window and door are gold wands with diamond bands and with pearls at the ends. Behind each opening door are ivory miniatures depicting views of the Abastuman Palace in the Caucasus.
The egg shell is carved of translucent apple-green bavenite braided by a diagonal grid of platinum strips inlaid with rose-cut diamonds on gold bases. Two large diamonds are set on the top and bottom where the bands join. The interior is finished in white satin and there is space to accommodate a surprise - an elephant figurine with a key to wind it. The base was a round pale green slab of jadeite on which were three cherubs supporting the egg.
Made of green, red and yellow gold, it is decorated with sapphires, diamonds, is enameled by transparent dark blue enamel. On the top of egg is the Imperial crown decorated with faceted sapphires and diamonds. Original surprise is lost.
Egg from heliotrope, consisting of two parts connected by a hinge, is decorated by an applied pattern of gold rocaille curls with diamonds. The button lock is decorated with a ruby and two diamonds. The model cruiser, a surprise egg, is made of gold and platinum, its windows of rose-cut diamonds. On the stern of the cruiser is a carved inscription: "Azov". The model is mounted on a plate of aquamarine, whose greenish-blue color imitates sea water. By this armoured ship, which was built at the Baltic Shipyard in the late 1880-ies of the XIX century, tsesarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich (the future emperor Nicholas II) in 1890-1891 made a trip to the East, during which he was attacked by a Japanese samurai - fanatic in the city of Otsu and miraculously survived.
Imperial egg. The exterior is decorated with pink and purple enamel, divided by gold strips into twelve sections. Six vertical lines and three horizontal lines are inlaid with rose-cut diamonds. At each of the intersections of the lines are emeralds, and at the top of the egg is a medallion with leaves blooming around a star-shaped cabochon sapphire. On the back side of egg there are leaves with the ornaments executed by means of chasing. Egg has the mechanism of opening for reception of a 10-panel screen made of multicolored gold with watercolors on nacre. The panels are faceted with rounded gold crowns on the top and Greek meanderings on the bottom.
This fourteen-carat gold watch from Vacheron Constantin has a chopped egg-shaped case set with seventy-five diamonds. It sits on an exquisite eighteen-carat, tri-colored gold base, rounded and decorated with a wave-like pattern. Until 2012 it was one of eight lost eggs.
A repetition of the Hen Egg. Inside is a surprise: a miniature imperial crown and a pendant in the form of a ruby egg.
The first in a series of 54 Imperial Easter Eggs produced by the House of Fabergé for the Russian imperial family. It was commissioned by Emperor Alexander III. The Emperor and Empress liked the egg so much that Alexander III made it a tradition to order Fabergé eggs for his wife every Easter.