Fabergé Egg

The Fabergé Egg is an art that the Music Dragon lives inside from the nest in the Enchanted Garden.

Art Summary[]

A Fabergé egg (Russian: яйцо Фаберже́, yaytso Faberzhe) is a jewelled egg created by the jewellery firm House of Fabergé, in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire. Possibly 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 Tsars Alexander III and Nicholas II as Easter gifts for their wives and mothers.

Art 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, Tsar 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 tsar 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 Tsar 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, heirloom-quality Fabergé eggs authorized under Unilever's license. The trademark is now owned by Fabergé Limited, which makes egg-themed jewelry.