Few treasures captivate the imagination as much as Russian imperial Easter eggs.
Steeped in history and craftsmanship, Fabergé Eggs have become synonymous with wealth and incomparable beauty – the ultimate royal Easter gift.
Their appeal lies not only in their exquisite aesthetics, but also in the mysterious stories that surround them and the tragedies suffered by the Russian Imperial Family, which commissioned these jewel-adorned masterpieces from the House of Fabergé in the 19th and early 20th centuries. .
The egg of the lilies of the valley, displayed in an exhibition in the Kremlin
The Rose Trellis egg that Tsar Nicholas II of Russia gave to Empress Alexandra Feodorovna on Easter Day.
Carl Fabergé’s mosaic egg photographed in the Queens Gallery at Buckingham Palace.
The apple blossom Easter egg, part of the Fabergé collection
For centuries it has been a tradition of the Eastern Orthodox Church to give painted porcelain or natural chicken or duck eggs as Easter gifts.
In Western Europe, royal and aristocratic families have given gem-set eggs since the 18th century; but in February 1885, Emperor Alexander III commissioned the then relatively unknown Carl Fabergé to create an egg for his beloved empress, Maria Feodorvna.
Fabergé took as inspiration an egg from the early 18th century, The Chicken’s Egg, which belonged to the Danish royal family.
Mary was a Danish princess by birth and had had a happy, carefree childhood in Denmark.
At first glance, the first egg appears to be a simple enamel and gold ornament, but upon opening it there was a golden hen that in turn was wearing, as a “surprise”, a ruby pendant. The “surprises” became more inventive and sumptuous, as did the eggs themselves.
When Alexander died in 1894, his son Nicholas II became tsar and continued the tradition, handing over both his mother and his wife, Tsarina Alexandra, until the fall of the imperial family in 1917.
In fact, the last egg of that year was never delivered. In total fifty eggs were made, which were then confiscated by the Bolsheviks and then sold or even crushed.
It was not until the Revolution and the horrible murders of the Romanovs in 1917, that these beautiful eggs became known outside the palaces in which they had been housed since May 1885.
The imperial eggs were sent to the Kremlin Armory Museum.
They were later sold and distributed around the world through various “sellers”, who managed to create an element of trust with the authorities of the time and allowed them to choose from Fabergé treasures.
One of the most important was Emanuel Snowman, son-in-law of Morris Wartski, whose jewelery shop had been in Llandudno from 1865.
However, it was his son Kenneth who became the real expert and curated the first Fabergé exhibition in the UK in 1977, to mark the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II, also at the V&A, which had queues of visitors. excited and desperate to get in.
The global hunt for Fabergé’s imperial eggs has become something akin to a Bond movie. In fact, the plot of Octopussy is based on the smuggling of a fake Fabergé egg, the accessory of which was created by Asprey.
In the last decade, surviving eggs have achieved astronomical values at auction: prices running into the millions, attracting collectors from around the world.
Of the 50 created, seven are now missing and are not known to have been destroyed. Not long ago, that number was eight.
The rediscovery of the Third Imperial Egg of 1887 was, again, due to Wartski director Kieran McCarthy, who had been contacted by a scrap metal dealer in the Midwestern United States.
The merchant had bought the egg at a fair and planned to melt it, until McCarthy demonstrated that it was indeed an imperial egg.
It later sold for $33 million.
From Russian oligarchs to royal families, the appeal of owning a Fabergé egg is endless. Names like Viktor Vekselberg, who gave his country, Russia, the nine imperial eggs that he bought from another collector, Malcom Forbes.
King Charles III, who inherited the three found in the British Royal Collection, upon the death of his mother, which had been purchased by his great-grandmother Queen Mary, who was very passionate about Fabergé and collecting its extraordinary treasures.
The V&A Museum’s 2021-2022 Fabergé egg exhibition was the first and probably the last time many of these exquisite artifacts were brought together again.
The swan egg and the swan surprise it contains were featured in the 2021 ‘Faberge in London: Romance To Revolution’ exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
The Alexander Palace Egg, featuring watercolor portraits of the children of Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra and containing a model of the palace inside.
The Egg in the Flower Basket by Peter Carl Faberge Forms photographed in the Queens Gallery at Buckingham Palace
As Kieran McCarthy, curator of the V&A exhibition and world expert (who discovered the missing Third Imperial Egg in 2012), explains: ‘Fabergé eggs possess a magical quality that transcends mere materialism: they are a child’s treasure with a magical surprise in them. its interior.
‘Each egg is a testament to the skill and ingenuity of the artisans who painstakingly brought them to life.
‘From the delicate filigree work to the vibrant enamel details and gemstone setting, every aspect of a Fabergé egg speaks to the passion and dedication of its creator and the two women for whom they were made, where luxury is not I knew limits. ‘