1893 The Caucasus Egg
Maria Feodorovna
Matilda Geddings Grey Collection
Purchase price: 5,200 rubles.
The Imperial Easter Egg “Caucasus” takes its name from the four miniatures, depicting views of the Abastuman Palace in the Caucasus, where the Grand Prince Georgy Alexandrovich spent much of his life, on account of his ill health. The egg, decorated in the Louis XV style, features four oval “windows,” each covered with an oval door, bordered with pearls. The exterior of each door is applied with a wreath of diamonds, supporting a numeral: together the numbers form the year “1893.” Each window is flanked by gold, diamond-banded batons with pearls at each end. Each door conceals a miniature on ivory, painted by the court miniaturist Konstantin Kryzhitsky. The Egg is surmounted by a miniature portrait of the Grand Duke Georgy Alexandrovich, under a large portrait diamond. The portrait diamond is encircled by small rose-cut diamonds and a laurel wreath. The upper and lower quadrants of the egg feature swags of roses in colored gold, tied with diamond-set platinum bows. The Egg rests on a stand of coiled gold legs, imitating bent wood.
Together with most of the Imperial Easter Eggs created by Faberge, this item was sold abroad in the 1920s and was purchased by Armand Hammer. In the 1950s it was purchased by Matilda Geddings Grey.
In the Matilda Geddings Grey Collection, the Metropolitan Museum (New York)