1913 The Romanov Tercentenary Egg
Alexandra Feodorovna
Purchase price 21,300 rubles.
Court jeweler Carl Faberge, whose Easter masterpieces often focused on significant events in the life of the Russian Empire, chose the Romanov Jubilee as the theme for his 1913 egg. This high-profile political event called for an artistic treatment of great solemnity.
From an entry in a Faberge account book: “Egg enameled in white inside and outside. Outside 18 miniatures of the members of the House of Romanov, painted by Zuev, in frames of rose-cut diamonds under plates of rock crystal. Between the miniatures designs of chased and engraved gold with Imperial crowns and caps. At either end of the Egg portrait diamonds. Inside a globe of blue steel with outlines of the Northern hemisphere, reproduced twice, showing the boundaries of Russia in 1613 and 1913. The Egg rests on a stand in the form of a three-sided eagle, standing on the Romanov Shield made of enameled purpurine.”
At the foot of the Egg is a miniature copy of the State Shield, part of the Imperial regalia since the late 17thc., kept in the collection of the Kremlin Museums. At either end of the Egg are two portraits diamonds set over inscriptions on silver foil: the dates “1613” and “1913” at the top, and the monogram of the Empress on the bottom. The ornamentation of the Egg is especially impressive: its golden “shell” is covered in opalescent white enamel over guilloche ground and applied with a network of chased gold with contoured representations of Imperial wreaths, crowns and heraldic eagles, each detail remarkable for its exquisite workmanship. The miniature portraits of the monarchs are remarkable for their technical sophistication, the clarity and fullness of the brushstroke, and scrupulous attention to detail in the depiction of dress and accessories. The portraits are painted in watercolors on ivory, and placed under convex plates of rock crystal. The frames are set out in small diamonds — “the monarch’s stone” — which frame the portraits of various members of the Imperial family on many Faberge creations. Missing from the gallery of rulers are the Emperors Ioann Antonovich and Peter III.
The surprise of the Romanov Tercentenary Egg is an inventive visual embodiment of the idea that in the three hundred years of Romanov rule, the Muscovy State was transformed into the vast Russian Empire, spanning an enormous territory. The Egg, commemorating the anniversary of Romanov rule, may be seen as an embodiment of a political manifesto of an age when the Russian Empire stood among the world’s leading powers. It was captured in the form of a multicolored golden fretwork on one of the Easter masterpieces of a great master.
In the collection of the Kremlin Armory Museum, Moscow, RF