The Caucasus Egg is a jewelled enameled

Easter egg Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian feast of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are common during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The oldest tr ...

made by

Michael Perkhin Michael Evlampievich Perkhin (russian: Михаи́л Евла́мпиевич Пе́рхин) (1860-1903) was an Imperial Russian jeweler. Born in Okulovskaya in Olonets Governorate (now Republic of Karelia), he moved to St. Petersburg, he j ...

under the supervision of the

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

jeweller

Peter Carl Fabergé Peter Carl Fabergé, also known as Karl Gustavovich Fabergé (russian: Карл Гу́ставович Фаберже́, ''Karl Gustavovich Faberzhe''; 30 May 1846 – 24 September 1920), was a Russian jewellery, jeweller best known for the fam ...

in 1893. The

Fabergé egg A Fabergé egg (russian: link=no, яйцо Фаберже́, translit=yaytso Faberzhe) is a jewelled egg created by the jewellery firm House of Fabergé, in Saint Petersburg, Russia. As many as 69 were created, of which 57 survive today. Virtual ...

was made for

Alexander III of Russia Alexander III ( rus, Алекса́ндр III Алекса́ндрович, r=Aleksandr III Aleksandrovich; 10 March 18451 November 1894) was Emperor of Russia, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland from 13 March 1881 until his death in 18 ...

, who presented it to his wife, Empress Maria Feodorovna. Currently the egg is a long term installation at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

New York City, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, as part of the Matilda Geddings Gray Foundation.

Design

The egg is made of yellow and varicoloured gold, silver, ruby enamel, rose-cut diamonds, portrait diamonds, platinum, ivory, pearls, rock crystal and watercolour on ivory. It commemorates

Abastumani Abastumani ( ka, აბასთუმანი) is a small town ('' daba'') and climatic spa in Adigeni Municipality, Samtskhe-Javakheti, Georgia. It is located on the southern slopes of the Meskheti Range (Lesser Caucasus), in the small river v ...

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...

(

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

) where Grand Duke George spent most of his life after being diagnosed with tuberculosis. Miniatures were done and signed by Krijitski. The miniatures are revealed by opening four pearl-bordered doors around the egg. Each door bears a diamond-set numeral of the year, forming the year 1893. Behind the hinged cover at the top is a portrait of the Grand Duke in his naval uniform. This is the first Imperial egg known to be dated. Ruby red enamel was used only one other time for the Imperial eggs as Alexei Nikolaevich's

hemophilia Haemophilia, or hemophilia (), is a mostly inherited genetic disorder that impairs the body's ability to make blood clots, a process needed to stop bleeding. This results in people bleeding for a longer time after an injury, easy bruising, ...

was a constant worry for the family.

Surprise

The surprise for this egg are the miniature paintings themselves.

References

Sources

* * * *

External links

A detailed article by Annemiek Wintraecken on the 'Caucasus' egg and its miniatures from wintraecken.nl
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caucasus (Faberge Egg) Imperial Fabergé eggs 1893 works Jewelry in the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Design

Surprise

See also

References

Sources

External links