1894 The Renaissance Egg
Maria Feodorovna
Purchase price: 4,750 rubles
The casket-egg “Renaissance” was the last Easter present Maria Fedorovna would receive from Alexander III, who passed away in October of 1894. The Renaissance Egg took inspiration from an 18th c. casket by the Dutch master LeRoy, held in the Grünes Gewölbe Museum in Dresden, where Carl Faberge studied as a young man.
The egg-shaped casket in translucent milky agate rests on its side on an oval gold base. The upper half, which swings open on a gold hinge, is mounted with a trellis enameled in opaque white and set with diamond and ruby flowers at intersections. At the top of the Egg, the year “1894” is laid out in diamonds inside an ellipse of bright-red translucent enamel. The lower edging of the lid is applied with shells of translucent strawberry-red enamel, flanked by scrolls of white enamel set with diamonds. The lower half is bordered at the top with a band of strawberry-red enamel, and applied below with bands of leaves with a small berry and blue “buckles” in the form of shells. Gold lion’s head handles with rings in their jaws are set on either side of the Egg. The chased foundation is applied with leaves of green enamel, alternating with a pattern of translucent red enamel over a solid white enamel ground.
In the collection of the Faberge Museum, St. Petersburg.