Gatchina Palace Egg
Gold, enamel, diamonds, pearls, and velvet; h. 12.7 cm, d. 9.1 cm
by House of Fabergé, and Mikhail Perkhin, 1901
The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

The egg's shell features a surface of opalescent white enamel, achieved through a careful application of multiple translucent enamel layers over a guilloché. Delicate green and gold leaves, pink roses, red ribbons tied into bows, and objects such as musical instruments and an artist's palette decorate the enamel in an underpainting design. Vertical bands of seed pearls create twelve divisions along the egg's body, with portrait diamonds set at either end. A monogram and year which appeared on the egg have been removed. The interior of the egg is lined with velvet, and the surprise it accommodates is a miniature replica of the Gatchina Palace, the winter residence of Alexander III and Marie Feodorovna, located 30 miles southwest of St Petersburg. Crafted from four shades of gold four shades of gold, the miniature depicts various elements of the palace with precision, revealing details such as bridges, cannons, a flag, a statue of Paul I, gravelled courtyard, and elements of the surrounding landscape including parterres and trees. This miniature palace can be removed. The egg was commissioned by Tsar Nicholas II as a present for his mother, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna.