Fabergé egg

A Fabergé egg (яйцо Фаберже|yaytso Faberzhe) is a jewelled egg created by the House of Fabergé, in Saint Petersburg, Russia. As many as 69 were created, of which 57 survive today. Virtually all were manufactured under the supervision of Peter Carl Fabergé between 1885 and 1917.The most famous are his 52 "Imperial" eggs, 46 of which survive, made for the Russian emperors Alexander III and Nicholas II as Easter gifts for their wives and mothers. Fabergé eggs are worth millions of dollars and have become symbols of opulence.
==History==
The House of Fabergé was founded by Gustav Fabergé in 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 III gave his wife Empress Maria Feodorovna jeweled Easter eggs. For Easter in 1883, before his coronation, Alexander III and Maria Feodorovna were given eggs, one of which contained a silver dagger and two skulls. The egg came with messages including "Christ is risen" and "You may crush us—but we [Nihilists shall rise again!"
Before Easter 1885, Alexander III's brother Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich suggested that Peter Carl Fabergé create 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 the Hen 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 golden hen sitting on golden straw. Inside the hen lay a miniature diamond replica of the Imperial crown and a ruby pendant, though these two elements have been lost. It was given to the tsarina on 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 Fabergé was 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 them Michael Perkhin, Henrik Wigström, and Erik August Kollin.
After Alexander III's death on 1 November 1894, his son, Nicholas II, presented a Fabergé egg to both his wife, Alexandra Fedorovna, and his mother, the Dowager Empress Maria Fedorovna. 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 the Russo-Japanese War.
The imperial eggs enjoyed great fame. Fabergé was commissioned to make similar eggs for a few private clients, including the Duchess of Marlborough, the Rothschild family, and the Yusupovs. Fabergé was also commissioned to make twelve eggs for the industrialist Alexander Kelch, though only seven appear to have been completed.
Following the revolution and the nationalization of the Fabergé workshop in St. Petersburg by the Bolsheviks in 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, the Victor Mayer jewelry company produced limited-edition Fabergé eggs authorized under Unilever's license. The trademark is now owned by Fabergé Limited, which makes egg-themed jewelry.
==List of eggs==
===List of Fabergé imperial Easter eggs===
Below is a chronology of the 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.
Date	Egg 	Image	Description 	Owner
1885	Hen 	125px	Also known as the Jewelled Hen Egg, it was the first in a series of 54 jewelled eggs made for the Russian Imperial family under Fabergé's supervision. It was delivered to Alexander III in 1885. The Tsarina and the Tsar enjoyed the egg so much that Alexander III ordered a new egg from Fabergé for his wife every Easter thereafter. 	Viktor Vekselberg
1886	Hen with Sapphire Pendant 	 	Also known as the Egg with Hen in Basket, it was made in 1886 for Alexander III, who presented it to his wife, the Empress Maria Feodorovna. This 1902 photograph shows Fabergé Imperial Easter eggs belonging to the dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna and the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. It is possible that Hen with Sapphire Pendant (Fabergé egg) is among the Fabergé eggs in this picture. 	Lost
1887	Third Imperial 	 	A jewelled and ridged yellow-gold egg with Vacheron & Constantin watch stands on its original tripod pedestal, which has chased lion paw feet and is encircled by coloured gold garlands suspended from cabochon blue sapphires topped with rose diamond set bows. After being discovered in an American flea market, in 2014 it was purchased by London-based jeweller Wartski on behalf of an unidentified private collector. 	
1888	Cherub with Chariot 	 	Also known as the Angel with Egg in Chariot, crafted and delivered in 1888 to Alexander III. This is one of the lost imperial eggs. Few details are known about it. 	Lost
1889	Nécessaire 	 	Crafted and delivered to Alexander III, who presented it to his wife, Maria Feodorovna, on Easter 1889. 	Lost
1890	Danish Palaces 	 	Alexander III presented it to his wife, Maria Feodorovna, on Easter 1890. 	Matilda Geddings Gray Foundation, housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, until 2021
1891	Memory of Azov 	 	 	Kremlin Armoury, Moscow, Russia
1892	Diamond Trellis 	 	The surprise, an elephant automaton thought to have been lost for many years, was identified in 2015 as being in the collection of the British Royal Collection Trust. 	Dorothy and Artie McFerrin collection, US
1893	Caucasus 	 	 	Matilda Geddings Gray Foundation, displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
1894	Renaissance 	 	One theory is that the surprise is another Fabergé egg, the Resurrection, which perfectly fits the curvature of the Renaissance egg's shell and has a similar decoration in enamel on the base. 	Viktor Vekselberg
1895	Rosebud 	 	 	Viktor Vekselberg
1895	Blue Serpent Clock 	 	Before March 2014, it was mistaken for the Third Imperial egg. 	Albert II, Prince of Monaco collection, Monte-Carlo, Monaco
1896	Rock Crystal 	 	Also known as the Revolving Miniatures Egg. 	Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia, US
1896	Twelve Monograms 	 	Also known as the Alexander III Portraits egg. Surprise is missing. 	Hillwood Museum, Washington, D.C., US
1897	Imperial Coronation 	125px	 	Viktor Vekselberg
1897	Mauve 	 	Only the egg's surprise (pictured) has been found. 	LostViktor Vekselberg
1898	Lilies of the Valley 	125px	Made under the supervision of Fabergé in 1898 by Fabergé ateliers. The supervising goldsmith was Michael Perchin. The egg is one of two in the Art Nouveau style. It was presented on 5 April to Tsar Nicholas II and given to the tsaritsa, Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna. 	Viktor Vekselberg
1898	Pelican 	 	 	Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia, US
1899	Bouquet of Lilies Clock 	 	 	Kremlin Armoury, Moscow, Russia
1899	Pansy 	 	Also known as the Spinach Jade Egg, made by Fabergé in 1899 for Tsar Nicholas II and given to Empress Maria Feodoronova as a gift. The egg has a mechanism which when pressed will allow the heart inside to open up as a pendant containing pictures of family members. Made of nephrite, silver-gilt, diamonds, white, red, green and opaque violet enamel. Heart surprise made of varicolored gold, diamonds, pearls, enamel, and mother of pearl. 	Matilda Gray Stream, US
1900	Trans–Siberian Railway 	 	 	Kremlin Armoury, Moscow, Russia
1900	Cockerel 	 	 	Viktor Vekselberg
1901	Basket of Flowers 	 	 	Royal Collection, London, United Kingdom
1901	Gatchina Palace 	 	 	Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland, US
1902	Clover Leaf 	 	 	Kremlin Armoury, Moscow, Russia
1902	Empire Nephrite 	 	The surprise is a miniature portrait of Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia and Duke Peter Alexandrovich of Oldenburg (original lost). 	Private collection, New York City.
1903	Peter the Great 	125px	 	Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia, US
1903	Royal Danish 	 	 	Lost
1906	Moscow Kremlin 	 	 	Kremlin Armoury, Moscow, Russia
1906	Swan 	 	 	Edouard and Maurice Sandoz Foundation, Switzerland
1907	Rose Trellis 	 	 	Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland, US
1907	Cradle with Garlands 	 	Also known as the "Love Trophies" egg 	Private collection, Robert M. Lee, US
1908	Alexander Palace 	 	 	Kremlin Armoury, Moscow, Russia
1908	Peacock 	 	 	Edouard and Maurice Sandoz Foundation, Switzerland
1909	Standart Yacht 	 	 	Kremlin Armoury, Moscow, Russia
1909	Alexander III Commemorative 	 	 	Lost
1910	Colonnade 	 	 	Royal Collection, London, UK
1910	Alexander III Equestrian 	 	 	Kremlin Armoury, Moscow, Russia
1911	Fifteenth Anniversary 	 	 	Viktor Vekselberg
1911	Bay Tree 	 	Also known as the Orange Tree egg. 	Viktor Vekselberg
1912	Tsarevich 	 	 	Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia, US
1912	Napoleonic 	 	 	Matilda Geddings Gray Foundation. 
Displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
1913	Romanov Tercentenary 	 	 	Kremlin Armoury, Moscow, Russia
1913	Winter 	 	Designed by Alma Pihl, the only female and one of the best known Fabergé workmasters, as a gift to Maria Feodorovna by her son Nicholas II. The exterior of the egg resembles frost and ice crystals formed on clear glass. It is studded with 1,660 diamonds and is made from quartz, platinum, and orthoclase. The surprise is a miniature flower basket studded with 1,378 diamonds and is made from platinum and gold, while the flowers are made of white quartz and the leaves of demantoid. The flowers lie in gold moss. The egg is 102 millimeters high. 	It was reported that the buyer was Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar.<
1914	Mosaic 	 	 	Royal Collection, London, UK
1914	Catherine the Great 	 	Also known as the "Grisaille". The egg was made by Henrik Wigström, "Fabergé's last head workmaster". It was given to Maria Feodorovna by her son Nicholas II. Its surprise (now lost) was "a mechanical sedan chair, carried by two blackamoors, with Catherine the Great seated inside". 	Hillwood Museum, Washington, D.C., US
1915	Red Cross with Triptych 	 	 	Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, US
1915	Red Cross with Imperial Portraits	 	 	Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia, US
1916	Steel Military 	 	 	Kremlin Armoury, Moscow, Russia
1916	Order of St. George 	125px	Made during World War I, the Order of St. George egg commemorates the Order of St. George that was awarded to Emperor Nicholas and his son, the Grand Duke Alexei Nikolaievich. The Order of St. George Egg and its counterpart, the Steel Military Egg, were of modest design, in keeping with the austerity of World War I, The Order of St. George egg left Bolshevik Russia with its original recipient, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. 	Viktor Vekselberg
1917	Karelian Birch 	 	Created in 1917, the egg was due to be completed and delivered to the Tsar that Easter, as a present for his mother, the Empress Maria Feodorovna. Before the egg could be delivered, the February Revolution took place and Nicholas II was forced to abdicate on 15 March. On 25 April, Fabergé sent the Tsar an invoice for the egg, addressing Nicholas II not as "Tsar of all the Russians" but as "Mr. Romanov, Nikolai Aleksandrovich". Nicholas paid 12,500 rubles, and the egg was sent to Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich at his palace for presentation to the empress, but the duke fled before it arrived. The egg remained in the palace until it was stolen in the wake of the October Revolution later that year.	Alexander Ivanov. Displayed at Ivanov's Fabergé Museum in Baden-Baden, Germany.
1917	Constellation 	 	Because of the 1917 February Revolution and subsequent events, this egg was never finished or presented to Nicholas's wife, the Tsaritsa Alexandra Feodorovna. 	Fersman Mineralogical Museum, Moscow, Russia
===List of the Kelch eggs===
Faberge was also commissioned to make eggs for Alexander 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 eggs were not as elaborate as the imperial eggs, and were not unique in design. Most are copies of other eggs.
Date	Egg 	Image	Description	Owner
1898	Hen 	 	 	Viktor Vekselberg
1899	Twelve Panel 	 	 	Royal Collection, London, UK
1900	Pine Cone 	 	 	Private collection
1901	Apple Blossom	125px	 	Liechtenstein National Museum
1902	Rocaille 	 	 	Dorothy and Artie McFerrin collection
1903	Bonbonnière 	 	 	Estate of the late Kerry Packer
1904	Chanticleer 	 	 	Viktor Vekselberg
===Other Fabergé eggs===
Date 	Egg 	Image	Description 	Owner
1885–91 	Blue Striped Enamel 	 	 	Private collection
1902 	Duchess of Marlborough	125px	 	Viktor Vekselberg
1902 	Rothschild 	 	 	Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia
1907 	Yusupov 	 	Sandoz Foundation (since 1995) 	
1914 	Nobel Ice 	 	 	Dorothy and Artie McFerrin collection
1885–89 	Resurrection 	 	Almost certainly the surprise from the 1894 Renaissance Egg	Viktor Vekselberg
1899–1903	Spring Flowers 	125px	Possibly inauthentic 	Viktor Vekselberg
1899–1903	Scandinavian 	125px	 	Viktor Vekselberg
==Location of eggs==
Of the 69 known Fabergé eggs, 57 have survived to the present day. Ten of the imperial Easter eggs are displayed at Moscow's Kremlin Armory Museum.
Of the 50 delivered imperial eggs, 44 have survived, and there are photographs of three of the six lost eggs: the 1903 Royal Danish Egg, the 1909 Alexander III Commemorative Egg, and the Nécessaire Egg of 1889. The previously lost Third Imperial Easter Egg of 1887 has since been found in the US and bought by Wartski for a private collector.All six of the missing Imperial Eggs belonged to Maria Feodorovna.
After the Russian Revolution, the Bolsheviks nationalized the House of Fabergé, and the Fabergé family fled to Switzerland, where Peter Carl Fabergé died in 1920. The imperial family's palaces were ransacked and their treasures moved to the Kremlin Armoury on order of Vladimir Lenin.
In a bid to acquire more foreign currency, Joseph Stalin had many of the eggs sold in 1927, after their value had been appraised by Agathon Carl Theodor Fabergé. Between 1930 and 1933, 14 imperial eggs left Russia. Many of the eggs were sold to Armand Hammer (president of Occidental Petroleum and a personal friend of Lenin, whose father was founder of the Communist Party USA/United States Communist Party) and to Emanuel Snowman of the London antique dealers Wartski.
After the collection in the Kremlin Armoury, the largest gathering of Fabergé eggs was assembled by Malcolm 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 at Sotheby's in February 2004 by Forbes' heirs. However, before the auction began, the collection was purchased in its entirety by the oligarch Viktor Vekselberg.
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 private Fabergé Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia on 19 November 2013.
The foundation supporting the Fabergé Museum in Saint Petersburg is the Link of Times Foundation, which has been repatriated lost cultural valuables to Russia.<
In November 2007, a Fabergé clock, named by Christie's auction house]] as the Rothschild 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 expensive timepiece, Russian object, and Fabergé object ever sold at auction, surpassing the $9.6 million sale of the 1913 Winter Egg in 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, Memory of Azov, Bouquet of Lilies Clock, Trans-Siberian Railway, Alexander Palace, Standart Yacht, Alexander III Equestrian, Romanov Tercentenary, and Steel Military nine from the Forbes collection, Renaissance, Rosebud, Coronation, Lilies of the Valley, Cockerel, Bay Tree, Fifteenth Anniversary, Order of St. George, and Spring Flowers three from the New Orleans Museum of Art, Danish Palaces, Caucasus, and Napoleonic two from the Royal Collection Colonnade and Mosaic one from the Cleveland Museum of Art Red Cross with Triptych and three from private collections.
Pansy, Love Trophies, and Blue Striped Enamel
===Location of the "Imperial" eggs===
Location/Owner 	Number of eggs	Eggs in collection
Kremlin Armoury, Moscow, Russia 	10 	Memory of Azov, Bouquet of Lilies Clock, Trans-Siberian Railway, Clover Leaf, Moscow Kremlin, Alexander Palace, Standart Yacht, Alexander III Equestrian, Romanov Tercentenary, Steel Military
Viktor Vekselberg's Link of Times foundation, Fabergé Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia 	9 	Hen, Renaissance, Rosebud, Coronation, Lilies of the Valley, Cockerel, Fifteenth Anniversary, Bay Tree, Order of St. George
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia, U.S. 	5 	Revolving Miniatures, Pelican, Peter the Great, Czarevich, Red Cross with Imperial Portraits
Royal Collection, London, United Kingdom 	3 	Basket of Wild Flowers, Colonnade, Mosaic
Matilda Geddings Gray Foundation (displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, U.S.)	3 	Danish Palaces, Caucasus, Napoleonic
Edouard and Maurice Sandoz Foundation, Lausanne, Switzerland 	2 	Swan, Peacock
Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, Washington, D.C., U.S. 	2 	Twelve Monograms, Catherine the Great
Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. 	2 	Gatchina Palace, Rose Trellis
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. 	1 	Red Cross with Triptych
Albert II of Monaco collection, Monte-Carlo, Monaco 	1 	Blue Serpent Clock
Alexander Ivanov (displayed at Ivanov's Fabergé Museum in Baden-Baden, Germany) 	1 	Karelian Birch (the egg was never delivered to the Tsar due to the February Revolution)
The State of Qatar 	1 	Winter
Dorothy and Artie McFerrin collection 	1 	Diamond Trellis
Separate private collections 	4 	Pansy, Love Trophies, Third Imperial Egg, Empire
===Location of the Kelch eggs===
Location/Owner 	Number of Eggs	Eggs in collection
Viktor Vekselberg's Link of Times foundation, Fabergé Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia	2 	Kelch Hen, Chanticleer
Royal Collection, London, UK 	1 	Twelve Panel
Liechtenstein National Museum 	1 	Apple Blossom
Dorothy and Artie McFerrin collection 	1 	Rocaille
Separate private collections 	2 	Pine Cone, Bonbonnière
===Location of the other eggs===
Location/owner 	Number of eggs	Eggs in collection
Viktor Vekselberg's Link of Times foundation, Fabergé Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia	4 	Duchess of Marlborough, Resurrection, Spring Flowers, Scandinavian
Cleveland Museum of Art 	1 	Lapis Lazuli
Dorothy and Artie McFerrin collection 	1 	Nobel Ice
Edouard and Maurice Sandoz Foundation, Lausanne, Switzerland 	1 	Youssoupov
Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia 	1 	Rothschild
Private collection 	1 	Blue Striped Enamel
==In popular culture==
Fabergé eggs have acquired a cult status in 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 the Romanov dynasty and the Russian Empire, priceless treasures to hunt, steal, etc.
As such, they have been part of the plot in several films and television series.
==See also==
*Tatiana Fabergé
*Fauxbergé
==References==
==External links==
*Fabergé Imperial Egg Chronology at Fabergé Research Site by Christel Ludewig McCanless
*Empress Marie Feodorovna's Missing Fabergé Easter Eggs, article by Annemiek Wintraecken and Christel Ludewing McCanless 
*Playlist on Fabergé eggs; documentaries, lectures, etc.
*Details on each of the Fabergé Eggs
*BYU article on the eggs 
*Site by Annemiek Wintraecken, details on each of the Fabergé Eggs
* BBC: Fabergé: The iconic maker of bespoke jewellery
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