1908 The Peacock Egg

Maria Feodorovna

Purchase price 8,300 rubles.

In 1777 Prince Grigoriy Potemkin, a favorite of Catherine II, wished to purchase a piece by James Cox as a gift for the Empress. This was the famous mechanical peacock in gilded brass (originally gilded in varicolored gold), its tail was golden emerald, and its body covered in multicolor lacquer. Potemkin never got to see the famous “Peacock,” now in the collection of the State Hermitage, but it went on to inspire the 1908 Peacock Egg, made for the Dowager Empress Maria Fedorovna. Possibly this Egg was meant to commemorate the 25thanniversary of the Dowager Empress’s coronation.

The piece is a transparent egg, placed horizontally, both its halves carved from rock crystal, each set into a heavy mount with a clasp. One half is inscribed with the monogram of Maria Fedorovna, the other with the year 1908. Inside, a peacock in multi-color enamel is poised amid the branches of a golden tree, strewn with flowers of precious stones and enamel. The mechanical bird can turn its head and spread its tailfeathers.

In his recollections, Faberge’s chief workmaster Franz Birbaum, gives the following description, “An egg of rock crystal, horizontally positioned on an openwork base in the style of Louis XV; inside a golden tree with flowers of small diamonds and rubies; a mechanical peacock sits on one of its branches. Opening the egg, once can take out the peacock, who, its internal mechanism being wound, could paddle about in a typical manner, continually spreading its tailfeathers and gathering them up again. The whole peacock, head to tail, measured no more than 12cm.” 

In 1927 the Peacock Egg was one of nine sold to the London dealer Emanuel Snowman. In 1935 his company Wartski sold the Egg to a Mr. Hirst. In 1949 it was purchased by Maurice Sandoz.

In the collection of the Fondation Edouard et Maurice Sandoz, Lausanne, Switzerland.