Catherine the Great Egg on Display at Hillwood Museum

  The Catherine the Great Egg is on display now at Hillwood Museum as part of their latest exhibition, Faberge Rediscovered. The exhibition promises to enlighten visitors as to the most recent discoveries about Faberge's works.  

Imperial Easter Eggs

Peter Carl Faberge established himself as the premiere designer for Russian royalty, a position that eventually expanded his reach into Europe and the United States. Perhaps his most delectable contribution to jewelry history is his collection of Imperial Easter Eggs. The House of Faberge crafted each egg annually for Tsarina Maria Feodorovna, and later for her daughter-in-law, Alexandra Feodorovna. Faberge made a total of 50 Imperial Easter Eggs between 1895 and 1917. Until 2014, experts believed that only 42 of these exquisite eggs have survived the ravages of the Bolsheviks and the passage of time. The discovery of one of the lost Imperial eggs brought to light new facts regarding the eggs. Experts re-dated three of the imperial eggs as a result:  Twelve Monogram Egg, Blue Serpent Clock Egg, and Catherine the Great Egg.

The Catherine the Great Egg

Tsar Nicholas II presented the Catherine the Great Egg (also called the Pink Cameo Egg) to his mother, Maria Feodorovna, on Easter morning, 1914. Henrik Wigström, workmaster for Faberge, oversaw the creation of the Catherine the Great Egg. The egg is fashioned with eight monochrome panels. Within these panels sit two rectangular and six oval plaques painted in camaieu (monochromatic rose). The two rectangular panels feature allegorical scenes painted in opaque white enamel by Faberge designer Vasilii Zuev, after the fashion of artist François Boucher. {source} The oval plaques feature various scenes with cherubs resting, frolicking, and/or playing musical instruments. Each oval portrays these cupids during a different season. A single row of seed pearls frames each of the plaques. The intricate enamel work is inset into quatre-couleur (four-color) gold. The gold-work surrounding each panel is exquisite, replete with many flourishes in keeping with the Louis XV style so favored by the Russian court at the time. The egg is further embellished with sprays of leaves and bow-knots fashioned from rose-cut diamonds. The spandrels (triangular spaces formed between the curves of the egg) are chased in four-color gold. These panels are further decorated with musical trophies and laurel leaves on a matte gold ground. The top and bottom of the eggs feature carved rosettes of leaves and berries. The top rosette holds a portrait diamond with the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna's cipher. On the bottom, the date 1914 reads in another portrait diamond. Each of these rosettes is framed by rows of seed pearls and borders of white enamel. The Surprise Every Imperial Easter Egg opened to reveal a special surprise. At the time, Faberge employed a skilled workman, Andrei Plotnitskii, who fashioned a fair number of the Easter automaton surprises. The Catherine the Great Egg was no exception. The top of the egg opens to reveal a velvet-lined space which once held the surprise. Unfortunately, during the egg's tumultuous journey to the Kremlin, this surprise was separated from the egg and remains so to this day. Tatiana Muntian confirmed to Alexander von Solodkoff that the surprise took leave from the egg before it reached the Kremlin Armory. {1} A 1922 inventory lists: 1 gold and enamel sedan chair with 2 blackamoor bearers. According to a letter written by the Dowager Empress, the surprise inside her Easter egg that year was what she called a "porte-chaise carried by two blackamoors walk." {2} A Faberge automaton fitting this description took to the block in the Christie's Geneva sale on November 13, 1985. However, the measurements of the piece eliminated it as the surprise. It did not fit inside the egg. As a result, experts believe that Plotnitskii must have fashioned two such pieces for Faberge in the same year. The egg's surprise remains missing, as far as I can tell.  

A Bloody History

Four years after giving the egg to his mother, Tsar Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, their children, and several household staff members walked into an ambush in their home. Ten armed men, under orders from Bolshevik officer Yakov Yurovsky, led the group of surprised royals to the basement of their home. Under the impression that their lives were in danger, the royals obliged the officers willingly. The soldiers even brought them chairs so they could sit comfortably. However, as soon as the Tsar and Tsarina took their seats, the officers drew their weapons and began shooting. The entire family and staff died on the floor that day. Apparently, Nicholas II was the first to die, his infant son likely falling from his arms. For the Bolsheviks, their deaths represented a victory of the highest order. Subsequently, the rebels proceeded over the next months to confiscate the entire collection of art and jewels in the Romanov palaces. Soldiers cataloged and packed every piece of treasure, including the Imperial Easter Eggs for storage in the Kremlin Armory. Every piece, that is, except the one which the Dowager Empress smuggled out of the country upon her exile. {source} In 1927, Joseph Stalin discovered the treasury in the Armory and decided to sell the pieces off to support his new regime. Regardless of their orders, several staff members at the Armory managed to hide the Imperial eggs for a number of years. Unfortunately, their efforts failed in 1930. Over the next three years, Stalin sold fourteen of the eggs to foreign art dealers and gallery owners. One of these was the Catherine the Great Egg.  

On Display at Faberge Rediscovered Exhibition

According to Alexander von Solodkoff, Stalin's people sold the Catherine the Great Egg to Hammer Galleries in New York for 8,000 rubles. In 1931, Eleanor Barzin purchased the egg from the New York firm. Subsequently, Ms. Barzin gave the egg to her mother, Marjorie Merriweather Post, as a birthday gift. Ms. Post added the egg to her growing collection of Russian decorative arts, displaying it front and center in her Icon Room in her home, Hillwood Estate. Following Ms. Post's death, the egg became part of the trust bequeathed by Ms. Post to what would become Hillwood Museum. Today, visitors to Hillwood Museum may view the egg, along with two other Faberge Imperial Eggs during their Faberge Rediscovered exhibition. The exhibition examines Faberge's place in the history of Russian decorative arts and beyond. This special exhibition will remain on view until January 13, 2019. For more hours and directions, we invite you to visit Hillwood's website.  

BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Lowes, Will and Christel Ludewig McCanless. Faberge Eggs: A Retrospective Encyclopedia. Scarecrow Press, 2001. 2. Ibid.