Fabergé egg

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.{{sfn|Faber|2008|p=8}} 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.{{sfn|Faber|2008|p=14}} The egg came with messages including "Christ is risen" and "You may crush us—but we Nihilists shall rise again!"{{sfn|Faber|2008|p=14}}

Before Easter 1885, Alexander III's brother Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich suggested that Peter Carl Fabergé create a jeweled egg.{{sfn|Faber|2008|pp=8–9}} 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.{{sfn|Faber|2008|p=15}} Known as the Hen Egg, it has a 2.5-inch outer enamel shell and a golden band around the middle.{{sfn|Faber|2008|p=3}} The egg opens to reveal a golden "yolk" within, which opened to reveal a golden hen sitting on golden straw.{{sfn|Faber|2008|p=3}} Inside the hen lay a miniature diamond replica of the Imperial crown and a ruby pendant,{{sfn|Faber|2008|p=3}} though these two elements have been lost.{{cite web |url=http://www.wintraecken.nl/mieks/faberge/eggs/1885-Hen-Egg.htm |title=Article on the first Hen egg |publisher=wintraecken.nl |date=13 November 2008 |access-date=26 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624214253/http://www.wintraecken.nl/mieks/faberge/eggs/1885-Hen-Egg.htm |archive-date=24 June 2016 |url-status=live }} It was given to the tsarina on 1 May 1885.{{sfn|Faber|2008|p=15}} The egg cost 4,151 rubles.{{sfn|Faber|2008|p=8}} Six weeks later, the emperor made Fabergé the supplier to the Imperial Court.{{sfn|Faber|2008|p=16}}

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.{{citation needed|date=August 2013}}

After Alexander III's death on 1 November 1894, his son, Nicholas II, presented a Fabergé egg to both his wife, Alexandra Feodorovna, and his mother, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. 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.{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/treasuresoftheworld/faberge/flevel_2/flevel2_after_whereabouts.html |title=Current whereabouts of the fifty Fabergé Imperial eggs |publisher=pbs.org |year=1999 |access-date=20 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160115080904/http://www.pbs.org/treasuresoftheworld/faberge/flevel_2/flevel2_after_whereabouts.html |archive-date=15 January 2016 |url-status=dead }}

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.{{cite web |title=Fabergé Eggs: 8 Little Known Facts |url=https://www.barnebys.co.uk/blog/eight-facts-to-know-about-faberge-eggs |date=15 April 2019 |website=Barnebys |access-date=5 May 2021 |archive-date=21 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210521233334/https://www.barnebys.co.uk/blog/eight-facts-to-know-about-faberge-eggs |url-status=live }}{{cite web |title=The 7 Kelch Eggs |url=https://www.wintraecken.nl/mieks/faberge/eggs/Kelch-Eggs/Kelch-Eggs.htm |date=3 January 2021 |website=Mieks Fabergé Eggs |access-date=5 May 2021 |archive-date=8 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210508201654/https://wintraecken.nl/mieks/faberge/eggs/Kelch-Eggs/Kelch-Eggs.htm |url-status=live }} Another notable patron was the oil baron Emanuel Nobel, nephew of Alfred Nobel. In 1913, he commissioned an 'Ice Egg' from Fabergé.{{Cite web |title=Fabergé Eggs - The History Of The World's Most Luxurious Jewelry |url=https://dsfantiquejewelry.com/blogs/journal/faberge-eggs-the-history-of-the-worlds-most-luxurious-jewelry?_pos=13&_sid=248bd0c6f&_ss=r |access-date=2024-10-23 |website=DSF Antique Jewelry |language=en}}

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.{{cite web |last=Corder |first=Rob |url=http://www.professionaljeweller.com/article-10291-faberge-a-regal-renaissance/ |title=Faberge: A Regal Renaissance |publisher=ProfessionalJeweller.com |date=18 November 2011 |access-date=26 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120615213903/http://www.professionaljeweller.com/article-10291-faberge-a-regal-renaissance/ |archive-date=15 June 2012 |url-status=dead }}

In 2023, Fabergé debuted Journey in Jewels on Seven Seas Grandeur, a luxury cruise ship from Regent Seven Seas Cruises. The egg will remain on the cruise ship, making it the first ever Fabergé to live at sea.{{Cite web |date=2023-12-12 |title=First Look: Journey in Jewels, the First Fabergé Egg at Sea |url=https://www.travelmarketreport.com/articles/%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20First-Look-Journey-in-Jewels-the-First-Faberg-Egg-at-Sea |access-date=2023-12-12 |website=www.travelmarketreport.com |language=en}}

Below is a chronology of the 52 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.{{Cite web|url=https://wartski.com/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140704145248/http://www.wartski.com/The%20Third%20Imperial%20Easter%20Egg%20at%20Wartski.htm|url-status=dead|title=Wartski|archivedate=4 July 2014}}

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 seven eggs were not as elaborate as the imperial eggs, and were not unique in design. Most are copies of other eggs.

Of the 52 known Fabergé eggs,the 50 delivered Imperial eggs, the Karelian Birch Egg, the seven Kelch eggs, the Duchess of Marlborough, the Rothschild, the Youssoupov, Nobel, Resurrection, Spring Flowers, and Blue Striped Enamel eggs—total 65 46 have survived to the present day. Ten of the imperial Easter eggs are displayed at Moscow's Kremlin Armory Museum.{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/treasuresoftheworld/faberge/flevel_1/f7_fate_of_eggs.html |title=Faberge Eggs – the fate of the eggs |publisher=Pbs.org |access-date=26 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120525225124/http://www.pbs.org/treasuresoftheworld/faberge/flevel_1/f7_fate_of_eggs.html |archive-date=25 May 2012 |url-status=dead }} Of the 50 delivered{{Cite news|url = https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-russia-faberge-egg/lost-faberg-easter-egg-on-show-for-first-time-in-112-years-idUKBREA3618B20140407|title = Lost Fabergé Easter egg on show for first time in 112 years|newspaper = Reuters|date = 7 April 2014|access-date = 30 August 2019|archive-date = 30 August 2019|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190830010512/https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-russia-faberge-egg/lost-faberg-easter-egg-on-show-for-first-time-in-112-years-idUKBREA3618B20140407|url-status = dead}} 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.{{cite news|last=Singh|first=Anita|title=The £20m Fabergé egg that was almost sold for scrap|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-news/10706025/The-20m-Faberge-egg-that-was-almost-sold-for-scrap.html|access-date=18 March 2014|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=18 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140528123238/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-news/10706025/The-20m-Faberge-egg-that-was-almost-sold-for-scrap.html|archive-date=28 May 2014|url-status=live}} All six of the missing Imperial Eggs belonged to Maria Feodorovna.{{Cite web|url=https://www.wintraecken.nl/mieks/faberge/eggs/missing.html|title=Mieks Fabergé Eggs|website=www.wintraecken.nl|access-date=17 July 2021|archive-date=8 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308112403/https://wintraecken.nl/mieks/faberge/eggs/missing.html|url-status=live}}

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 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.energytribune.com/articles.cfm?aid=681 |title=Buying Putin's Indulgences |work=Energy Tribune |access-date=26 March 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071114065504/http://www.energytribune.com/articles.cfm?aid=681 |archive-date=14 November 2007 }} In a 2013 BBC Four documentary, Vekselberg revealed he had spent just over $100 million purchasing the nine Fabergé eggs.[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0336tf3 "The World's Most Beautiful Eggs: The Genius of Carl Faberge"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130730035219/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0336tf3 |date=30 July 2013 }} BBC FOUR 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.{{cite web|title=Home Page|url=http://www.fsv.ru/en|publisher=The Link of Times foundation|access-date=5 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150815212746/http://fsv.ru/en|archive-date=15 August 2015|url-status=dead}}

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 clock was previously documented and had been published in 1964 in L'Objet 1900 by Maurice Rheims, plate 29 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.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7116956.stm Fabergé egg sold for record £8.9m] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100204190131/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7116956.stm |date=4 February 2010 }}, BBC News, 28 November 2007{{cite news |last=Varoli |first=John |date=28 November 2007 |title=Rothschilds' Faberge Egg Fetches Record $16.5 Million (Update2) |publisher=Bloomberg L.P. |url=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aKbQV1ZgI44A&refer=home |access-date=15 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020061347/http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aKbQV1ZgI44A&refer=home |archive-date=20 October 2012 |url-status=dead}}

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.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/28/arts/antiques-not-imperial-but-still-faberge.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm|title=ANTIQUES; Not Imperial, but Still Faberge|work=The New York Times|date=28 May 1989|access-date=7 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161228092635/http://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/28/arts/antiques-not-imperial-but-still-faberge.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm|archive-date=28 December 2016|url-status=live}} 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 CollectionColonnade and Mosaic one from the Cleveland Museum of ArtRed Cross with Triptych and three from private collections.Pansy, Love Trophies, and Blue Striped Enamel

{{In popular culture|section|date=December 2023}}

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, including Octopussy (1983), Mr. Belvedere ("Strike" episode, 1985), Love Among Thieves (1987), Murder She Wrote episode "An Egg to Die For" (1994), The Simpsons episode {{"-}}'Round Springfield" (1995) (in which jazz musician Bleeding Gums Murphy talks about his addiction to buying Fabergé eggs), Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997), Case Closed: The Last Wizard of the Century (1999), The Order (2001), Relic Hunter episode "M.I.A." (2001), Ocean's Twelve (2004), The Simpsons episode "The Last of the Red Hat Mamas" (2005), SpongeBob SquarePants episode "What Ever Happened to SpongeBob?" (2008), Thick as Thieves (2009), multiple episodes of White Collar (2009–2014), a 2010 episode of the TV series Leverage ("The Zanzibar Marketplace Job"), the American Dad! episode "A Jones for a Smith" (2010), The Intouchables (2011), Hustle episode "Eat Yourself Slender" (2012), many episodes of "Riverdale" belonging to Veronica Lodge, Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated episode "The House of the Nightmare Witch" (2012), {{Citation|last=Cook|first=Victor|title=The House of the Nightmare Witch|date=31 July 2012|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2174951/|access-date=29 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211192859/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2174951/|archive-date=11 February 2017|url-status=live}} An Easter Bunny Puppy (2013), Person of Interest episode "Search and Destroy" (2015), Imperial Eight (2015),{{cite web|url=http://www.roadsendfilms.com/scriptedtv.htm|title=Road's End Films|website=roadsendfilms.com|access-date=2 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160408212231/http://roadsendfilms.com/scriptedtv.htm|archive-date=8 April 2016|url-status=live}} the British crime drama series Peaky Blinders ("Lilies of the Valley" egg, season 3, episode 6, 2016) and s3e5, Hooten & the Lady episode "Moscow" (2016),{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5663062/|title=Hooten & the Lady|website=IMDb|access-date=30 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170828224531/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5663062/|archive-date=28 August 2017|url-status=live}} Game Night (2018), Between Two Ferns: The Movie (2019), Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020), Lupin (2021), Bhamakalapam (2022).{{cite news |title='Bhamakalapam' movie review: Priyamani shines in this macabre crime comedy |newspaper=The Hindu |url=https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/reviews/bhamakalapam-movie-review-priyamani-shines-in-this-macabre-crime-comedy/article38411422.ece |date=12 February 2022 |last1=Dundoo |first1=Sangeetha Devi |access-date=28 June 2022 |archive-date=13 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220213145445/https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/reviews/bhamakalapam-movie-review-priyamani-shines-in-this-macabre-crime-comedy/article38411422.ece |url-status=live }} and The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog (2023)

In Danielle Steele's 1988 novel Zoya, a Fabergé egg is a keepsake of the last two remaining members of a noble family. The 2011 digital card game Cabals: Magic & Battle Cards features Fabergé egg as a collectible card. In 2017, visual artist Jonathan Monaghan exhibited a series of digital prints re-interpreting Fabergé eggs in humorous and surreal ways at The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore.{{cite web |title=Monaghan Exhibit at Walters Art Museum |url=https://art.catholic.edu/news/2017/after-faberge.html |website=The Catholic University of America |access-date=18 November 2021 |language=en |archive-date=18 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211118012747/https://art.catholic.edu/news/2017/after-faberge.html |url-status=live }}

• Argyle Library Egg
• Egg decorating
• Egg decorating in Slavic culture
• Guilloché
• Tatiana Fabergé

{{Reflist|group=note}}

{{reflist}}

{{Refbegin}}

• {{cite book | last=Faber | first=Tony | title=Fabergé's Eggs: The Extraordinary Story of the Masterpieces That Outlived an Empire | publisher=Random House | location=New York | date=2008 | isbn=978-1-4000-6550-9 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/fabergeseggsextr00fabe }}

{{refend}}

{{Refbegin}}

• {{cite book | last=Hill | first=Gerald | title=Fabergé and the Russian Master Goldsmiths | publisher=Universe |location=New York | date=2007| isbn=978-0-7893-9970-0}}

{{Refend}}

{{Commonscat}}

• [http://www.fabergeresearch.com/eggschronoorderframe.php Fabergé Imperial Egg Chronology at Fabergé Research Site by Christel Ludewig McCanless]
• [http://www.fabergeresearch.com/downloads/frsroyalrussiastory.pdf Empress Marie Feodorovna's Missing Fabergé Easter Eggs, article by Annemiek Wintraecken and Christel Ludewing McCanless]
• [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCuMUEToC0C-k7W8DeSwFLmTz8CVjq83y Playlist on Fabergé eggs; documentaries, lectures, etc.]
• [http://andrejkoymasky.com/liv/fab/fab00.html Details on each of the Fabergé Eggs]
• [http://germslav.byu.edu/perspectives/2003/Bailey.html BYU article on the eggs] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303202326/http://germslav.byu.edu/perspectives/2003/Bailey.html |date=3 March 2016 }}
• [http://wintraecken.nl/mieks/faberge/eggs/eggspictures.htm Site by Annemiek Wintraecken, details on each of the Fabergé Eggs]
• [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct1tcr BBC: Fabergé: The iconic maker of bespoke jewellery]

{{Fabergé egg|state="expanded"}}

{{Russian souvenirs}}

{{Eggs}}

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Category:Decorative arts