Moscow Kremlin

The Royal Danish egg (also known as the Danish Jubilee egg) is a jewelled enameled Easter egg made under the supervision of the Russian jeweller Peter Carl Fabergé in 1903, for Nicholas II of Russia, who presented the egg to his mother, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. One of six Fabergé eggs that are currently lost, it is one of two eggs whose existence is known only from a single photograph, the other being 1909's Alexander III Commemorative egg. A partially obscured photograph of the lost 1888 egg Cherub with Chariot may also exist.
==Surprise ==
The egg contains miniature portraits of Christian IX of Denmark and his wife, Louise of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel), the parents of the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna.
==History==
The egg is known from a description published in The Connoisseur magazine in June, 1934:
"Miniatures of the late King of Denmark and his Queen are framed as the surprise feature in the Imperial egg. The outer surface is in light blue and white enamel with ornaments in gold and precious stones. On the top are the armorial bearings of the Danish Royal Family, and it is supported by Danish heraldic lions."
One of the largest Fabergé eggs at over nine inches (229 mm) in height, the egg is crowned by the symbol of Denmark's ancient Order of the Elephant.
In 1903 the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, born in Denmark as Princess Dagmar, returned to Denmark for the 40th Anniversary of her father's accession to the throne. The Royal Danish egg was thus a commemoration of this event and at the same time to commemorate the death of Queen Louise. Nicholas II wrote to his mother in Copenhagen that he was "sending you a Fabergé Easter present. I hope it will arrive safely; it simply opens from the top".
==Design==
The Moscow Kremlin egg is by far the largest of the Fabergé eggs and was inspired by the architecture of the Dormition Cathedral, Moscow (Uspenski) in Moscow. This cathedral was where all the Tsars of Russia were crowned, including Nicholas II himself.
The cathedral dome (in white opalescent vitreous enamel) is removable, and the remarkably crafted interior of the church can be seen. Its carpets, tiny enameled icons and high altar on an oval glass plate are made visible through four triple windows, surmounted by a gold cupola and flanked by two square, two circular stylized turrets, the former based on the Spassky Tower. The tower bears the coat of arms of the Russian Empire and the coat of arms of Moscow, inset with 'chiming clocks'. It stands on a crenellated gold base and octagonal white onyx plinth designed as a pyramid, and built of more smaller pyramids.
==Surprise==
The surprise in this egg is music. The base of the egg contains a gold music box that plays two cherubim chants, traditional Easter hymns can be played when a clockwork mechanism is wound up by a gold key. One of the hymns is the "Izhe Khveruvimy" (Cherubic Hymn #7 by D. Bortnyansky), a favorite hymn of Nicholas II.
==History==
The egg commemorates the return to Moscow of the royal couple Nicholas II and Alexandra Fyodorovna in 1903. They had tended to avoid the historical capital due to its ill-omened association with a riot during Nicholas’s coronation, where hundreds of Moscovites were crushed to death. The egg itself was supposed to be presented in 1904 as engraved at the foot in white enamel on a round gold plate is the date. But the delivery was delayed because of the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905). This was followed by the assassination in the Kremlin of Nicholas' favorite uncle and brother-in-law, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. So instead the egg was only presented for Easter, 1906. The egg was kept in the Maple Room in the Alexander Palace.
Category:Imperial Fabergé eggs
Category:Fabergé eggs