1911 The Bay Tree Egg
Maria Feodorovna
Purchase price 12, 800 rubles.
For the Easter holiday of 1911 the Emperor’s mother received a present of an Egg in the form of a bay tree with a “little bird” perched in its canopy. The evergreen bay tree — symbol of eternal life — at the center of the composition bore special significance: that year marked the thirtieth anniversary of Maria Fedorovna’s accession to the throne, and the forty-fifth anniversary of her marriage to the Emperor Alexander III.
From an entry in a Faberge account book: “Large Egg in the form of a bay tree in gold; 325 small leaves in nephrite, 110 flowers of matte white enamel, 25 brilliant diamonds, 20 rubies, 53 pearls, 219 rose-cut diamonds, 1 large rose-cut diamond, inside a mechanical singing bird. In a rectangular vat of white Mexican onyx on a base of nephrite, at the four corners low columns supporting garlands of green enamel with pearls.”
An opening for a key and a tiny lever are concealed in the upper part of the canopy. When the lever is engaged, a circular platform concealed amid the branches springs open. A bird adorned with shimmering natural feathers emerges from the opening and begins to sing, spinning, flapping its wings, turning its head and opening its ivory beak. When the song is over the bird disappears back into the opening.
In the collection of the Faberge Museum, St. Petersburg, RF