Fabergé egg

AFabergé egg(Russian:яйцо Фаберже,romanized:yaytso Faberzhe) is a jewelledeggfirst created by thejewelleryfirmHouse of Fabergé, inSaint Petersburg, Russia. As many as 69 Czarist Russia Era eggs were created, of which 61 are currently known to have survived.Virtually all of the original first edition eggs were manufactured under the supervision ofPeter Carl Fabergébetween 1885 and 1917.The most famous of the firm's creations are the 50 delivered Imperial Easter eggs,of which 44 are currently known to be in complete or partial physical existence, leaving the fate of those remaining unknown.
These eggs were commissioned for the Russian tsarAleksandr III(10 eggs) and tsarNikolai II(40 eggs) as Easter gifts for Alexander's wife and Nicholas's mother EmpressMaria Feodorovna, and Nicholas's wifeTsaritsaAlexandra Feodorovna.Fabergé eggs are worth large sums of money and have become symbols of opulence.
Two more of Fabergé Easter Imperial eggs (bringing the total to 52) were designed but were unable to be delivered. One egg known as the Karelian Birch Egg, has confirmed sketches but is not confirmed to have actually been made, and the other, the Blue Tsesarevich Constellation Egg, only partially completed due to the Russian Revolution of 1917.
More recently,Theo Fabergé, grandson of Peter Carl Fabergé, has created a series of eggs as part of theSt. Petersburg Collection.
TheHouse of Fabergéwas founded byGustav Fabergéin 1842 in St. Petersburg, Russia. The Fabergé egg was a later addition to the product line by his son,Peter Carl Fabergé.
Prior to 1885,Emperor Alexander IIIgave his wife EmpressMaria FeodorovnajeweledEaster eggs.For Easter in 1883, before his coronation, Alexander III and Maria Feodorovna were given eggs, one of which contained asilverdaggerand twoskulls.The egg came with messages including "Christ is risen" and "You may crush us—but weNihilistsshall rise again!"
BeforeEaster1885, Alexander III's brotherGrand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovichsuggested thatPeter Carl Fabergécreate a jeweled egg.This type of egg is believed to have been inspired by an ivory hen egg made for the Danish Royal Collection in the 18th century.Known as theHen Egg, it has a 2.5-inch outer enamel shell and a golden band around the middle.The egg opens to reveal a golden "yolk" within, which opened to reveal a goldenhensitting on goldenstraw.Inside the hen lay a miniature diamond replica of the Imperial crown and a rubypendant,though these two elements have been lost.It was given to thetsarinaon 1 May 1885.The egg cost 4,151 rubles.Six weeks later, the emperor made Fabergé the supplier to the Imperial Court.
Maria was so delighted by the gift that Alexander appointed Fabergé a "goldsmith by special appointment to the Imperial Crown" and commissioned another egg the next year. After that,Peter Carl Fabergéwas apparently given complete freedom to design future imperial Easter eggs, and their designs became more elaborate. According to Fabergé family lore, not even the emperor knew what form they would take—the only requirements were that each contain a surprise, and that each be unique. Once Fabergé had approved an initial design, the work was carried out by a team of craftsmen, among themMichael Perkhin,Henrik Wigström, andErik August Kollin.
After Alexander III's death on 1 November 1894, his son, Nicholas II, presented a Fabergé egg to both his wife, Alexandra Feodorovna, and his mother, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. Records have shown that of the 50 imperial Easter eggs, 20 were given to the former and 30 to the latter. Eggs were made each year except 1904 and 1905, during theRusso-Japanese War.
The imperial eggs enjoyed great fame. Fabergé was commissioned to make similar eggs for a few private clients, including theDuchess of Marlborough, theRothschild family, and theYusupovs. Fabergé was also commissioned to make twelve eggs for the industrialistAlexander Kelch, though only seven appear to have been completed.Another notable patron was the oil baronEmanuel Nobel, nephew ofAlfred Nobel. In 1913, he commissioned an 'Ice Egg' from Fabergé.
Following the revolution and thenationalizationof the Fabergé workshop in St. Petersburg by theBolsheviksin 1918, the Fabergé family left Russia. The Fabergé trademark has since been sold several times, and several companies have retailed egg-related merchandise using the Fabergé name. From 1998 to 2009, theVictor Mayerjewelry company produced limited-edition Fabergé eggs authorized underUnilever's license. The trademark is now owned by Fabergé Limited, which makes egg-themed jewelry.
In 2023, Fabergé debuted Journey in Jewels on Seven Seas Grandeur, a luxury cruise ship fromRegent Seven Seas Cruises. The egg will remain on the cruise ship, making it the first ever Fabergé to live at sea.
Below is a chronology of the 52 eggs made for the imperial family. The dating of the eggs has evolved. An earlier chronology dated the Blue Serpent Clock Egg to 1887 and identified the egg of 1895 as the Twelve Monograms Egg. The discovery of the previously lost Third Imperial Easter Egg confirms the chronology below.
Faberge was also commissioned to make eggs forAlexander Ferdinandovich Kelch, a Siberian gold mine industrialist, as gifts for his wife Barbara (Varvara) Kelch-Bazanova.  Though still "Fabergé eggs" by virtue of having been produced by his workshop, these seven eggs were not as elaborate as the imperial eggs, and were not unique in design.  Most are copies of other eggs.
Of the 52 known Fabergé eggs,46 have survived to the present day. Ten of the imperial Easter eggs are displayed at Moscow'sKremlin Armory Museum.Of the 50 deliveredimperial eggs, 44 have survived, and there are photographs of three of the six lost eggs: the 1903Royal DanishEgg, the 1909Alexander III CommemorativeEgg, and theNécessaire Eggof 1889.The previously lostThird Imperial Easter Eggof 1887 has since been found in the US and bought byWartskifor a private collector.All six of the missing Imperial Eggs belonged toMaria Feodorovna.
After theRussian Revolution, theBolsheviksnationalized theHouse of Fabergé, and the Fabergé family fled to Switzerland, wherePeter Carl Fabergédied in 1920.Theimperial family's palaces were ransacked and their treasures moved to theKremlin Armouryon order ofVladimir Lenin.
In a bid to acquire more foreign currency,Joseph Stalinhad many of the eggs sold in 1927, after their value had been appraised byAgathon Carl Theodor Fabergé. Between 1930 and 1933, 14 imperial eggs left Russia. Many of the eggs were sold toArmand Hammer(president ofOccidental Petroleumand a personal friend of Lenin, whose father was founder of theUnited States Communist Party) and toEmanuel Snowmanof the London antique dealers Wartski.
After the collection in the Kremlin Armoury, the largest gathering of Fabergé eggs was assembled byMalcolm Forbes, and displayed in New York City. Totaling nine eggs, and approximately 180 other Fabergé objects, the collection was to be put up for auction atSotheby'sin February 2004 by Forbes' heirs. However, before the auction began, the collection was purchased in its entirety by theoligarchViktor Vekselberg.In a 2013BBC Fourdocumentary, Vekselberg revealed he had spent just over $100 million purchasing the nine Fabergé eggs.He claims never to have displayed them in his home, saying he bought them as they are important to Russian history and culture, and he believed them to be the best jewelry art in the world. In the same BBC documentary, Vekselberg revealed he plans to open a museum that will display the eggs in his collection,which was built as a privateFabergé Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russiaon 19 November 2013.
In November 2007, a Fabergé clock, named byChristie'sauction houseas theRothschild Egg, sold at auction for £8.9 million ($16.5 million) (including commission).The price achieved by the egg set three auction records: it is the most expensivetimepiece, Russian object, and Fabergé object ever sold at auction, surpassing the $9.6 million sale of the 1913Winter Eggin 2002.
In 1989, as part of the San Diego Arts Festival, 26 Fabergé eggs were loaned for display at the San Diego Museum of Art, the largest exhibition of Fabergé eggs anywhere since the Russian Revolution.The eggs included eight from the Kremlin,nine from the Forbes collection,three from the New Orleans Museum of Art,two from the Royal Collectionone from the Cleveland Museum of Artand three from private collections.
Fabergé eggs have acquired acult statusin the art world and popular culture. Featured in exhibitions, films, TV series, documentaries, cartoons, publications, and the news, they continue to intrigue. They have become symbols of the splendor, power and wealth of theRomanov dynastyand theRussian Empire, priceless treasures to hunt, steal, etc.
As such, they have been part of the plot in several films and television series, includingOctopussy(1983),Mr. Belvedere("Strike" episode, 1985),Love Among Thieves(1987),Murder She Wroteepisode "An Egg to Die For" (1994),The Simpsonsepisode"'Round Springfield" (1995) (in which jazz musician Bleeding Gums Murphy talks about his addiction to buying Fabergé eggs),Case Closed: The Last Wizard of the Century(1999),The Order(2001),Relic Hunterepisode "M.I.A." (2001),Ocean's Twelve(2004), The Simpsons episode "The Last of the Red Hat Mamas" (2005), SpongeBob SquarePants episode "What Ever Happened to SpongeBob?" (2008),Thick as Thieves(2009), multiple episodes ofWhite Collar (TV series)(2009 - 2014), a 2010 episode of the TV seriesLeverage("The Zanzibar Marketplace Job"), theAmerican Dad!episode "A Jones for a Smith" (2010),The Intouchables(2011),Hustleepisode "Eat Yourself Slender" (2012), many episodes of "Riverdale" belonging to Veronica Lodge,Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporatedepisode "The House of the Nightmare Witch" (2012),Person of Interestepisode "Search and Destroy" (2015),Imperial Eight(2015),the British crime drama seriesPeaky Blinders("Lilies of the Valley" egg, season 3, episode 6, 2016) and s3e5,Hooten & the Ladyepisode "Moscow" (2016),Game Night(2018),Between Two Ferns: The Movie(2019),Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga(2020),Lupin(2021),Bhamakalapam(2022).andThe Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog(2023)
In Danielle Steele's 1988 novelZoya, a Fabergé egg is a keepsake of the last two remaining members of a noble family. The 2011 digital card gameCabals: Magic & Battle Cardsfeatures Fabergé egg as a collectible card. In 2017, visual artistJonathan Monaghanexhibited a series of digital prints re-interpreting Fabergé eggs in humorous and surreal ways atThe Walters Art Museumin Baltimore.
InM. J. Rose's 2021 novelThe Last Tiara, the main character discovers a Fabergé tiara in her late mother's apartment. This discovery sets her off on a journey to discover how the tiara came into her mother's possession and if her father, a Fabergé workman, was involved.