The Coronation Egg

THE CORONATION EGG: A FABERGÉ IMPERIAL EASTER EGG PRESENTED BY EMPEROR NICHOLAS II TO HIS WIFE, EMPRESS ALEXANDRA FEODOROVNA, AT EASTER 1897,WORKMASTER MICHAEL PERCHIN, ST. PETERSBURG

Enameled translucent lime yellow over a jeweled8e sunburst ground and applied with a green gold trellis of laurel leaf pinned at the top of the egg with a circle of diamonds and with black enamel Imperial eagles at the intersections, the shields of the eagles set with diamonds and the ribbons enameled blue, the top of the egg with the Imperial monogram of the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna set with diamonds and rubies on a white enamel ground beneath a table diamond, the bottom of the egg with a calyx of finely engraved leaves centered by the blackenameled date 1897 on a white enamel ground below a table diamond within a diamond-set circular frame. The egg opens to reveal a velvet-lined compartment containing a gold, platinum, enamel and jeweled miniature coach, a replica of Catherine the Great’s coach of 1793 which was employed in the coronation procession of Nicholas and Alexandra, executed in minute detail, enameled translucent strawberry red and applied with a diamond-set gold trellis, the roof mounted with gold Imperial eagles at the corners and sides and with a diamond-set Imperial crown at the center, the doors mounted with diamond-set Imperial eagles and with rock crystal windows engraved with drapery, the interior with tiny steps which fold down when the doors are opened, and with a translucent strawberry red enameled bench and cushions before a light blue enameled drapery with gold trim, the ceiling painted with gold vine and with a light blue enamel roundel within a gold wreath, a gold hook at the center, all components of the carriage finely articulated, the compartment itself suspended from gold springs, the gold wheels with platinum tires, the inner edge of the top of the egg marked with Cyrillic initials of workmaster and pre-1899 assay mark of 56 standard for 14 karat gold, the underside of the coach also marked with Cyrillic initials of workmaster, pre-1899 assay mark of 56 standard for 14 karat gold and Fabergé in Cyrillic; the name of Wigström scratched on the inner surface of the shell.

The 1897 Coronation Egg is the most celebrated and best known of all of Fabergé’s creations, the most exhibited and most published work of art by the Russian master. 2 As its name denotes, it commemorates the festivities surrounding the coronation of Tsar Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna, which began with their entry into Moscow on May 9, 1896. Nicholas noted in his diary: “9 May. The first hard day for us – the day of our entrance into Moscow. By 12 an entire gang of princes had gathered, with whom we sat down to lunch. At 2.30 the procession began to move. I was riding on Norma, Mama was sitting in the first gold carriage and Alix in the second, also alone.” 3 At the head of the four-mile-long cortège, from the Petrovsky Palace outside the gates of Moscow to the Nicholsky Gate of the Kremlin, rode squadrons of the Imperial Guard, followed by the Cossacks of the Guard, Moscow’s nobility, then, on foot, the Court orchestra, the Imperial Hunt and court footmen. Nicholas rode on his white steed, simply dressed in a white army tunic, reigns in his left hand, right hand raised to his visor in salute. Behind Nicholas rode the Russian Grand Dukes and European nobility. Next came the widowed Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna in the massive carriage of Catherine the Great – Russian Court Protocol gave her precedence over the new Empress, a situation which was later to cause considerable friction between the two (the Dowager made good use of her right to wear the Russian Crown Jewels). Last came the young Empress dressed in dazzling white in a gilded coach drawn by eight white horses. According to the perhaps biased Princess Radziwil, the cortège was not a great success:
“When he made his entrance into Moscow, the golden carriages, magnificence, escort of chamberlains in gold-embroidered costumes, and soldiers in parade uniforms were the same as at his father’s coronation. But one could sense no genuine warmth in the tribute of the crowd, no enthusiasms other than that always found on such an occasion. Yes, the only time that the hurrahs of the masses seemed to come from the heart was when the Dowager Empress’ carriage appeared, while her daughter in law was met with deathly silence.” 4

On May 14, the Coronation took place in the Dormition, or Uspensky, Cathedral, a ceremony lasting four hours. Nicholas was seated on the throne of Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich inset with 870 diamonds, rubies and pearls. Alexandra Feodorovna sat on Ivan the Great’s Ivory Throne. Nicholas wore the uniform of the Preobrazhensky Guard, a heavy gold-thread mantle embroidered with black double-headed eagles and the nine-pound diamond crown of Catherine the Great, made by Jérémie Pauzie in 1762 (now in Diamond Fund of the Russian Federation, Moscow). Alexandra wore a silver-white court dress with a train carried by 12 attendants, a single strand of pink pearls and the small diamond crown (now in the collection of the Hillwood Museum, Washington, D.C.). Nicholas pondered the day’s events in his diary: “14 May, 1896. A great day, a triumphant day, but for Alix, Mama and me, difficult in the moral sense. I shall not forget it my whole life long.” 5

The Empress’ brother, Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse, who attended the Coronation ceremonies, described the scene vividly: “The coronation in Moscow on May 26^th 1896 was the most opulent celebration which I ever witnessed. It bordered close to the Oriental and lasted for 10 days. In Moscow the cathedral was filled with paintings on gold ground of saints and all priests were dressed in gold robes applied with embroidery and precious stones. A very deep feeling of mysticism was in all the ceremonies and you could feel the tradition of Byzance. Through the holy oil the Emperor and the Empress are now sanctified (geheiligt.) The Emperor takes the Holy Communion as a priest in the inner sanctuary, then the Emperor takes his crown off before the throne, he kneels down and prays aloud the so wonderful prayer for his people. And following the prayer for the Emperor he gets up and then is the only person standing at that moment in the whole Russian Empire. The procession to and from the cathedral leads over an elevated passage, as high as the heads of the people around, so that all, who take part in the procession, can be seen. The procession is all uniforms, gold, silver, Emperor and Empress in their gold and ermine under a gigantic canopy, all grand duchesses (Fürstinnen) strewn with jewels. To look at all this must have been like a fantastic dream because the sun was shining an all.” 6

The Coronation Egg contains a faithful replica of the coach in which Alexandra rode. The egg’s shell, embellished with a trellis of black double-headed eagles on yellow 10eweled10e enamel ground, is a reminder of the heavy cloaks of gold thread in woven with Imperial eagles by the Moscow firm of Sapozhnikov, that were worn by the Imperial couple at the coronation ceremony in the Uspensky Cathedral, a scene perfectly rendered in Laurits Tuxen’s paintings.

Alexandra Feodorovna’s carriage was a 10ewel coach built in St. Petersburg by Johann K. Buckendahl in 1793. The original, 512 cm long and 270 cm high, is made of oak, ash, birch, lime, iron and steel and is embellished with copper, brass, bronze, silver and gold, its interior is decorated with velvet and silk, with beveled glass windows. It is suspended on four C-shaped transverse springs and sits length- and cross-wise on straps, has seats for the coachman and pages, rear steps for the footmen and folding steps attached to the floor of the carriage. The exterior is upholstered with dark red velvet, applied with sequins, artificial diamonds, tassels and golden embroidery of trelliswork, flowers and foliage. The coach is surmounted by a copper-gilt crown set with pastes (originally aquamarines). The coach was renovated in 1826, 1856, 1894 and 1896 and most recently in 1992-93 through a grant of the Ford Motor Company for a Fabergé exhibition held at the Winter Palace in 1993, when it was carried up the Ambassador’s Staircase in pieces and then reassembled to be shown alongside the Fabergé miniature replica in St. George Hall. 7

In 1952 the goldsmith responsible for the Fabergé coach, Georges Stein, was still alive. Kenneth Snowman interviewed him and recorded Stein’s remembrances in his 1953 publication. 8 Stein was aged twenty-three at the time when Fabergé hired him away from the jeweler Kortman, offering him a higher salary of five rubles a day ($2.50). His eyesight is said to have been so incredibly good that he could detect a flaw in a diamond without a loupe. The meticulous work on the coach, executed without any artificial optic aid, took fifteen months at sixteen hours a day – a total of 7,200 hours – with many a visit to the Imperial Coach Museum. The cost to Fabergé of the coach alone would, according to Stein, have been 2,250 rubles, exactly half of what Fabergé charged the Tsar for the egg. A pear-shaped emerald drop suspended in the coach’s interior cost an extra 1,500 rubles; the glass case in which the coach was separately exhibited, an additional 150 roubles.

The Coronation Egg was displayed in the Empress’ apartment in the Winter Palace in a corner cabinet and is exactly described in 1909 by N. Dementiev, Inspector General of the Imperial Winter Palace, including its white velvet-lined interior which was the “ nest for the model State carriage.... The egg rests on a silver-gilt wire stand .” 9 The surprise and its separate glass case were also minutely described, including “ a yellow diamond pendant egg (briolette)” which hung in the carriage (and which apparently had replaced the original emerald drop) . “It is placed on a rectangular jadeite pediment with a silver-gilt rim and is contained in a rectangular glass case with silver-gilt edging. Silver-gilt Imperial crowns are placed at each of the four corners of the case.” 10

The egg was confiscated by the Provisional Government in 1917, listed among the treasures removed from the Anichkov Palace, dispatched to the Kremlin and finally transferred to the Sovnarkom in 1922 for sale: “
1 gold egg with diamonds and rose-cut diamonds, containing a gold carriage with a pear-shaped diamond.” 11

The egg was sold by Antikvariat to dealer Emanuel Snowman in 1927, sold by his London firm Wartski to Charles Parsons in 1934, reacquired by Wartski in 1945 and sold, together with the Lilies of the Valley Egg, to Malcolm Forbes for a total of $2,160,00 in 1979.

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