Cockerel Egg
Gold, enamel, diamonds, rubies, pearls, and natural feathers; h. 20.3 cm
by House of Fabergé and Mikhail Perkhin, 1900
Fabergé Museum, Saint Petersburg
Photograph by Testus, 2017

The Cockerel Egg, also known as the Cuckoo Clock Egg, is crafted from multi-coloured gold with a translucent violet body, a translucent green dial, three oyster enamel columns, and opaque lilac and opalescent white on the base, all creating a mesmerising interplay of light and colour. Diamonds, rubies, and pearls further enhance the egg's beauty, along with gold scrollwork and foliage. The surprise is a gold cockerel with natural feathers that emerges from a hidden compartment and crows when activated by a complex clockwork mechanism through the press of a button at the rear of the egg. This feature is a nod to 18th and 19th century singing bird clocks, and represents one of the first of four such mechanisms Fabergé incorporated into his creations.