The Red Cross with Triptych egg, also known as Red Cross Triptych egg or Red Cross Egg with Resurrection Triptych,
is an enameled
Easter egg made under the supervision of the Russian 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 ...
in 1915, for
Nicholas II of Russia. Nicholas II presented the
Fabergé egg to his wife Empress
Alexandra Fyodorovna on Easter 1915.
Craftsmanship
The egg was created by Fabergé's workmaster,
Henrik Wigström
Henrik Immanuel Wigström (2 October 1862 – 14 March 1923) a Finnish silver & goldsmith, was one of the most important Fabergé workmasters along with Michael Perchin. Perchin was the head workmaster from 1886 until his death in 1903, when he ...
(Finnish, 1860–1923)
is made of silver, gold, opalescent white and translucent red enamel, watercolor on gold and glass. The white enamel on this gold-mounted egg is decorated with a translucent red enamel cross on either side. The egg measures . The center of each cross is set with a painted miniature of respectively
Grand Duchess Olga and
Grand Duchess Tatiana in their Red Cross uniforms. The front cross with the portrait of Tatiana serves as a clasp, securing the double opening doors. The front of the egg divides into two quarters when opened, reveals a
triptych within.
[
The central scene is the Harrowing of Hell, the Orthodox representation of the Resurrection. Saint Olga, the founder of ]Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
in Russia is represented on the left wing of the triptych. The martyr Saint Tatiana
Saint Tatiana was a Christian martyr in 3rd-century Rome during the reign of Emperor Severus Alexander.
Biography
According to legend, she was the daughter of a Roman civil servant who was secretly Christian, and raised his daughter in the fait ...
on the right. The interior miniatures are executed by Adrian Prachow, who specialized in icons. The remaining two panels of the doors are inscribed with the crown monogram of the tsarina, and the other one with the year "1915". The two miniature portraits of the two Grand Duchesses are probably by the court painter Vasilii Zuiev, who painted the miniatures for the companion Red Cross with Imperial Portraits
Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...
Egg. This is one of the few Tsar Imperial Easter Eggs that opens vertically. The 1913 Winter Egg is another.[
]
Ownership
In 1930, the Red Cross with Triptych Egg was sold by the Antikvariat in Moscow to an unknown buyer. Purchased in 1943 by India Early Minshall, widow of the founder of Pocahontas Oil Company, T. Ellis Minshall, at "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 ...
" in New York. India Early Minshall wrote "The Story of My Russian Cabinet", and noted "Fabergé was called the Cellini of the North, but I do not think any jeweler can ever be compared to him." In 1965, India Early Minshall bequeathed her collection to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio, United States.[
]
References
Further reading
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External links
Cleveland Museum of Art: Highlights
Cleveland Museum of Art
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1915 works
Imperial Fabergé eggs
Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art