1890 The Danish Palaces Egg
Maria Feodorovna
Matilda Geddings Grey Foundation
Purchase price: 6,500 rubles.
The Imperial Easter Egg “Danish Palaces” created for Maria Fedorovna was the first to feature painted miniatures. The exterior of the egg is salmon-pink enameled gold, divided by gold bands into twelves sections. The six vertical and three horizontal lines are set with rose-cut diamonds. Each intersection is marked with an emerald, while the top is surmounted by a medallion of leaves around a cabochon star sapphire. The underside of the egg features chased leaf ornaments.
The surprise of the Egg is a ten-panel screen made of varicolored gold with watercolors on mother of pearl. The panels depict the following views: the Imperial yachts Pole Star and Tsarevna; Bernsdorff Castle in Copenhagen, the Imperial villa in Fredensborg Park, Amalienborg Palace, Kronborg Castle, the Cottage Palace in Peterhof and Gatchina Palace. The watercolors were painted by Konstantin Kryzhitsky and are dated 1889. The panels are mounted with rounded gold wreaths at the top and Greek meander feet at the bottom. The Egg received its name in Western historiography despite the fact that Danish palaces are not the sole subjects of the miniatures.
In the Matilda Geddings Grey Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York)