The Pansy egg or Spinach Jade egg is one of the Imperial Russian

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 ...

s, and it was commissioned in 1899 by

Tsar Nicholas II Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Polan ...

as an Easter gift for his mother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodoronova. Its design was overseen by the jeweler

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 ...

. It is one of only three done in the

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

style (the others are the

Lilies of the Valley Lily of the valley (''Convallaria majalis'' (), sometimes written lily-of-the-valley, is a woodland flowering plant with sweetly scented, pendent, bell-shaped white flowers borne in sprays in spring. It is native throughout the cool temperate No ...

egg and the Clover leaf egg).

Description

The egg is made of

nephrite Nephrite is a variety of the calcium, magnesium, and iron-rich amphibole minerals tremolite or actinolite (Aggregate (geology), aggregates of which also make up one form of asbestos). The chemical formula for nephrite is calcium, Ca2(magnesium, ...

and has a stand made of gilt silver in the form of branches twisting up about the bottom of the egg (the egg points downward). Around the sides are five pansies with enamelled leaves and petals. The top of the egg – a nephrite dome – lifts off to reveal the egg's surprise.

Surprise

Regarding the "surprise":

Within is a gold easel surmounted by a diamond-set Star of Bethlehem inside a wreath over the year; the easel is fluted and embellished with carved gold floral and torch motifs and is set with gems and pearls. On it rests a heart-shaped plaque enamelled opalescent white on a sun-ray ''
guilloché Guilloché (; or guilloche) is a decorative technique in which a very precise, intricate and repetitive pattern is mechanically engraved into an underlying material via engine turning, which uses a machine of the same name, also called a ros ...
'' background and bordered by rose diamonds set in silver and surmounted by the Romanov crown also in diamonds. Eleven tiny translucent strawberry enamelled gold covers, each bearing its own monogram, are connected by a large diamond ‘M’ to form a decoration for the front of this plaque.

When a button is pressed, the covers open simultaneously revealing miniatures of the Imperial Family. Reading vertically, those in the first column are: * Grand Duke George, the Tsar's younger brother and at this time

heir apparent An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...

to the Imperial throne * Grand Duke Alexander, the Tsar's brother-in-law via his sister,

Grand Duchess Xenia Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia (russian: Ксения Александровна Романова; – 20 April 1960) was the elder daughter and fourth child of Tsar Alexander III of Russia and Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia ...

In the second column are * the Tsar himself * Grand Duchess Irina, subsequently Princess Youssoupoff, the Tsar's only niece, daughter of Grand Duke Alexander and Grand Duchess Xenia In the third column are: * Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, the first child of the Tsar and Tsarina * Grand Duchess Tatiana, their second child * Grand Duke Michael, youngest brother of the Tsar In the fourth column are * The Tsarina, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna * Grand Duke Andrew, the Tsar's nephew, brother of Grand Duchess Irina In the fifth column are: * Grand Duchesses Olga Alexandrovna, sister of the Tsar * Grand Duchess Xenia, the other sister of the Tsar. Not shown are the Tsar's three other as-yet-unborn children.

Owners

This egg is among the 10 Fabergé eggs sold by the Russian Antikvariat in 1930, and it was purchased by the

Hammer Galleries Victor J. Hammer (November 1, 1901 – July 21, 1985) was a businessman, founder and owner of Hammer Galleries in New York City, and philanthropist. Early life and education Hammer was born in New York City, to Ukrainian-born Jewish immigran ...

of New York. The gallery's owner,

Armand Hammer Armand Hammer (May 21, 1898 – December 10, 1990) was an American business manager and owner, most closely associated with Occidental Petroleum, a company he ran from 1957 until his death. Called "Lenin's chosen capitalist" by the press, ...

, then sold it to the New Orleans oil heiress Matilda Geddings Gray in 1947. She in turn gave it to her niece, Matilda Gray Stream (Mrs. Harold H. Stream, Jr.), as a wedding anniversary present. It is one of the very few Fabergé Imperial Easter eggs to remain in a private collection.

Notes

This egg is one of only three made in the

style; the others are the

egg of 1898 and the Clover Leaf egg of 1902.

References

External links