Given by Tsar Nicholas to his mother the Dowager Empress Maria Fedorovna for Easter 1901, this Egg is a reminder of her most favorite residence and she carried it with her whenever court life caused her to be elsewhere.

The Egg is one of the most beautiful and thought to be one of Faberge’s finest artistic accomplishments. The softness of the coloring, the opalescent white ground simulating the white enamel guilloché ground used in the original Imperial Egg, the extreme delicacy of the floral baskets and swags done by the finest of paint brushes much as a line drawing would be done, the elegance lent by the exquisite pearls that bordered the 12 panels of the Egg, in this Egg expressed by using circlets in bas relief and finally the incredible replica of the actual Gatchina Palace which is truly beyond imagination. The palace miniature is the surprise and sits on the gold plated plinth with all of the details, towers, spires, columns and statuary. Almost unbelievable is that it stands only one quarter of an inch high with the center section of it rising to just over one half inch. Looking at this, one can only be in awe of the artistry and enormous skill that it took to create this work of art. The clasp of the Egg is the Romanov Double Headed Eagle.

Retail: $450.00. Our price: $404.90.