This egg commemorates the centenary of Russia's victory over the armies of Napoleon, and in particular the victory at Borodino, in 1812. Double-headed eagles and battle trophies embellish the green shell. Like enormous history-painting cycles from earlier centuries, the Napoleonic Egg celebrates past royal glories while appealing to Russian patriotism at a time when the Romanov dynasty once again faced the uncertainties of war.

The Napoleonic Egg is one of only two Imperial Easter Eggs for which design drawings have so far been found, the other being the 1909 Standart Egg.

Maria served as honorary colonel for the six regiments depicted in watercolor, and her monogram decorates the back of each panel. These panels, signed Vasilii Zuiev and dated 1912, form a screen whose hinges are ax-topped fasces, a warlike emblem in use since Roman times.

In 1930 the Napoleonic Egg was one of the ten Eggs sold to the Hammer Galleries, New York. 1937 was in a private collection. 1951 owned by Matilda Geddings Gray, oil-heiress. 1971 Collection of the late Matilda Geddings Gray, 1972 Matilda Geddings Gray Foundation, New Orleans Museum of Art, USA.