The Kelch Chanticleer egg is a
jewelled,
enameled Easter egg made by
Michael Perchin
Michael Evlampievich Perkhin (russian: Михаи́л Евла́мпиевич Пе́рхин) (1860-1903) was an Imperial Russian jeweler. Born in Prionezhsky District, Okulovskaya in Olonets Governorate (now Republic of Karelia), he moved to ...
under the supervision of the
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
n 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 1904.
It was made for the
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
n industrialist
Alexander Ferdinandovich Kelch, who presented the
Fabergé egg to his wife,
Barbara Kelch-Bazanova.
Surprise
Upon the hour, a
diamond set cockerel
The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domestication, domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey junglefowl, grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster ...
pops up from the top of the egg, flaps its wings four times, nods his head three times, crowing all the while during this routine. This lasts fifteen seconds, before the clock strikes the hour on a bell.
Similarities with Rothschild egg
As one of only four eggs with an ornamentation surprise and a clock, similarities have been drawn with the 1902
Rothschild egg.
History
The Kelch Chanticleer egg is, together with the 1906
Moscow Kremlin egg, one of Fabergé's largest Imperial Easter eggs.
It was long believed to be an Imperial egg and was purchased as such from
A La Vieille Russie
A La Vieille Russie is a New York City-based antique store specializing in European and American antique jewelry, Russian Empire, Imperial Russian works of art, 18th-century European gold snuff boxes, and ''Objet d'art, objets d’art''. Founded i ...
by
Malcolm Forbes
Malcolm Stevenson Forbes (August 19, 1919 – February 24, 1990) was an American entrepreneur most prominently known as the publisher of ''Forbes'' magazine, founded by his father B. C. Forbes. He was known as an avid promoter of capitalism ...
in 1966.
The first doubts were raised as to its Imperial status in 1979, when the ownership of six Fabergé eggs illustrated in a 1920 photograph was attributed to Alexander Ferdinandovich Kelch. These included several eggs which had previously been considered Imperial (including the
Pine Cone egg and the Chanticleer egg) as well as three others bearing the initials BK of Barbara Kelch (the 1898
Kelch Hen egg, the 1902
Rocaille egg and the 1903
Kelch Bonbonnière egg).
In 2004, it was sold as part of the Forbes Collection to
Viktor Vekselberg. Vekselberg purchased some nine Imperial eggs from the collection, for almost $100 million.
The egg is now housed in Vekselberg's
Fabergé Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
See also
*
Egg decorating
Egg decorating is the art or craft of decorating eggs. It has been a popular art form throughout history because of the attractive, smooth, oval shape of the egg, and the ancient associations with eggs as a religious and cultural symbol. Egg dec ...
*
Kinder Surprise
Kinder Surprise (Italian: ''Kinder Sorpresa'' or ''Ovetto Kinder''), also known as Kinder Egg or Kinder Surprise Egg, is a milk chocolate consisting of a chocolate egg surrounding a yellow plastic capsule with a small toy inside. Manufactured by t ...
References
External links
Details about the Kelch Chanticleer egg- The Link of Times foundation
{{Fabergé egg
Kelch Fabergé eggs
1904 works
Fabergé clock eggs
Fabergé Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia