1901 The Gatchina Palace Egg
Maria Feodorovna
Purchase price 5,000 rubles.
The Imperial Easter Egg “Gatchina Palace” for the Dowager Empress Maria Fedorovna pays tribute to an Imperial Palace that, in the reign of Alexander III, ranked among the Imperial family’s favorite residences. The Egg, enameled in white, is partitioned by slim bands of tiny pearls into twelve sections with painted decorations of swags, bows and flower baskets.
Inside the Egg is a meticulously executed miniature replica of the Gatchina Palace: the proportions of the palace are preserved, and one can make out cannons, a statue of Paul I, and other features of the landscape, including the vegetation.
In July of 1917 the Egg was kept at the Gatchina Palace. It was purchased in 1930 by Henry Walters from Alexander Polovtsov, former keeper of the Anichkov Palace, residing in France after the Revolution.
In the collection of the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD