Constellation (Fabergé egg)
{{short description|1917 Imperial Fabergé egg}}
{{Infobox Fabergé egg
| name =Constellation
| image =Constellation Faberge egg 03 by shakko.jpg
| caption =Unfinished egg from Fersman Mineralogical Museum
(the modern Plexiglass band joins the two halves of the egg)
| year_delivered =Unfinished and undelivered (1917)
| made_for =Nicholas II
|recipient=Alexandra Feodorovna
| owner =Fersman Mineralogical Museum
| acquisition_year =1925
| workmaster =
| materials =Glass and rock crystal
| height =
| width =
| surprise_in_egg =
}}
The Constellation egg is an unfinished 1917 Easter egg designed under the supervision of Peter Carl Fabergé for the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, as an Easter gift to his wife, the Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna. It was the last Imperial Fabergé egg designed.
History and description
File:Constellation (Fabergé egg) original sketch.jpeg
According to Franz Birbaum, Fabergé’ workshop manager, the egg was conceived as a clock in the form of a celestial globe of dark blue glass encircled by a rotating dial, held above billowing rock crystal clouds surmounted by silver cherubs; the whole supported on a nephrite pedestal. The globe was to be decorated with a diamond studded engraving of the constellations under which Tsarevitch Alexei was born. Work began on the egg, but the 1917 February Revolution and subsequent events overtook its production.[https://wartski.com/the-imperial-constellation-egg-by-faberge/ "The Imperial Constellation Egg by Fabergé"]
In 2001, its unfinished clouds and globe were uncovered in the collection of the Fersman Mineralogical Museum in Moscow, where Fabergé's second son Agathon, left them in 1925. Experts believe it to be the unfinished 1917 egg by Fabergé.Карл Фаберже и мастера камнерезного дела. Самоцветные сокровища России. // Carl Faberge and masters of stone carving. Russian gems. Catalogue of the exhibition in Kremlin, Moscow. 2011. P. 62. It is without the diamonds, nephrite base and silver putti intended to decorate it. Its authenticity is supported by numerous studies by Russian experts.[https://www.ruzhnikov.com/forgeries-in-the-hermitage-the-wedding-anniversary-egg/ Andre Ruzhnikov (2021), Forgeries in The hermitage]
A false pretender
Russian art collector Alexander Ivanov claims that he owns the original (and finished){{Cite web |url=http://www.rusiskusstvo.ru/news.html?id=570 |title=See photo |access-date=2011-04-06 |archive-date=2017-03-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170307211129/http://www.rusiskusstvo.ru/news.html?id=570 |url-status=dead }} egg. In 2003–2004 he said that he acquired this egg in the late 1990s and affirmed that "the Fersman Museum erroneously continues to claim that it has the original egg." Fabergé experts do not agree and think his egg is a Fauxbergé.[https://www.ruzhnikov.com/fakes-in-the-hermitage-the-good-soldier-ivano/ Andre Ruzhnikov (2021), Fakes in The hermitage] Ivanov's egg is in the Fabergé Museum in Baden-Baden, which houses part of his Fabergé/Fauxbergé collection.
References
Sources
- {{cite book|last=Faber|first=Toby|title=Faberge's Eggs: The Extraordinary Story of the Masterpieces That Outlived an Empire|publisher=Random House|year=2008|isbn=978-1-4000-6550-9|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/fabergeseggsextr00fabe}}
- {{cite book|authorlink=Christopher Forbes|last1=Forbes|first1=Christopher|first2=Johann Georg |last2=Prinz von Hohenzollern|title=FABERGE; The Imperial Eggs|publisher=Prestel|year=1990|asin=B000YA9GOM}}
- {{cite book|last=Lowes|first=Will|title=Fabergé Eggs: A Retrospective Encyclopedia|publisher=Scarecrow Press|year=2001|isbn=0-8108-3946-6}}
- {{Cite book|authorlink=Kenneth Snowman|last=Snowman|first=A Kenneth|title=Carl Faberge: Goldsmith to the Imperial Court of Russia|publisher=Gramercy|year=1988|isbn=0-517-40502-4}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20060927184225/http://www.fmm.ru/faberge/faberge.htm The piece is part of the Fersman Mineralogical Museum collection, Moscow]
- [http://www.wintraecken.nl/mieks/faberge/eggs/1917-Blue-Constellation-Egg.htm Description and history of the object]
{{Fabergé egg}}
{{coord missing|Moscow}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Constellation (Faberge egg)}}
Category:Imperial Fabergé eggs