|
This egg egg is carved out of rock-quartz crystal, engraved with two tied laurel leaf sprays, the upper half cloaked with platinum trelliswork and a tasseled fringe, two consoles shaped as double-headed eagles set with rose-cut diamonds. A large diamond surmounts the egg and is engraved with the year "1910". The diamond is set in band of small roses, with a rosette border of platinum acanthus leaves. The two platinum double-headed eagles on the sides of the egg have diamond crowns. The surface of the egg between the eagles is engraved with branching patterns which are adjoined at the bottom.
The abundant use of platinum in this Egg may be misleading; platinum was in Russia at that time not regarded with the esteem reserved for gold. The Egg has no official state mark because platinum had no hallmark in Russia at that time.
The lower hemisphere of the egg serves as a platform for the gold model of a statue of Tsar Alexander III, after Peter Troubetzkoi (1866-1938), standing on a nephrite base embellished with two rose-cut diamond bands - engraved signature Fabergé, and is supported by cast platinum cherubs coiled into position on a base of crystal.
The enormous original statue of Alexander III, ordered by the Dowager Empress Maria Fyodorovna, on which the miniature is based, was made by Trubetskoi and unveiled in 1909.
   |