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Rosebud
Egg Gold, enamel, diamonds, velvet lining, and rubies; h. 7.4 cm, by House of Fabergé, and Mikhail Perkhin 1895 Fabergé Museum, Saint Petersburg Photograph by Mikhail Ovchinnikov, 2018 |
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In the
Louis XVI style,
the Rosebud Egg is made from varicoloured gold and translucent red
and opaque white enamel. Its surface is quartered by bands of rose-cut
diamonds on a wave-patterned guilloché field. The divisions in the
upper section of the egg features green gold laurel wreath and garland
appliqués suspended from rose-cut diamonds, and the lower section
is decorated with arrows and ribbons set in rose-cut diamonds. The
top features a table diamond set within white enamel, surrounded by
rose-cut diamonds. Below the diamond is a portrait of
Nicholas II. The bottom of the egg is decorated in the same manner,
with the year 1895 below another table diamond. This surprise
held in the cream velvet lined compartment is a yellow and green enamel
gold-hinged
rosebud. The rosebud held a miniature replica of the Imperial Crown
of Russia of diamonds and two cabochon rubies, and a ruby pendant
shaped like an egg, both considered lost until 2022. They were identified
as being the surprises contained in the Lapis
Lazuli Egg attributed to Fabergé. The design of the
yellow rose was chosen because Empress Alexandra had fond memories
of the rose garden at Rosenhöhe, Darmstadt, and yellow roses were
highly valued in her native Germany. In the 1930s, the egg was lost,
and resurfaced in 1985 in a damaged state, said to have been thrown
about during a marital dispute between previous owners. |
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Provenance |
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Empress
Alexandra Feodorovna, 1895–1917