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Pansy (Fabergé Egg)
The Pansy egg or Spinach Jade egg is one of the Imperial Russian Fabergé eggs, and it was commissioned in 1899 by Tsar Nicholas II as an Easter gift for his mother, Maria Feodorovna (Dagmar of Denmark), Dowager Empress Maria Feodoronova. Its design was overseen by the jeweler Peter Carl Fabergé. This egg is one of only three made in the Art Nouveau style; the others are the Lilies of the Valley (Fabergé egg), Lilies of the Valley egg of 1898 and the Clover Leaf (Fabergé egg), Clover Leaf egg of 1902. Description The egg is made of nephrite 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 embell ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicholas II
Nicholas II (Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov; 186817 July 1918) or Nikolai II was the last reigning Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 1 November 1894 until his abdication on 15 March 1917. He married Alix of Hesse (later Alexandra Feodorovna) and had five children: the OTMA sisters – Olga, born in 1895, Tatiana, born in 1897, Maria, born in 1899, and Anastasia, born in 1901 — and the tsesarevich Alexei Nikolaevich, who was born in 1904, three years after the birth of their last daughter, Anastasia. During his reign, Nicholas gave support to the economic and political reforms promoted by his prime ministers, Sergei Witte and Pyotr Stolypin. He advocated modernisation based on foreign loans and had close ties with France, but resisted giving the new parliament (the Duma) major roles. Ultimately, progress was undermined by Nicholas's commitment to autocratic rule, strong aristocratic opposition and defeats sustained by the Russ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heir Apparent
An heir apparent is a person who is first in the order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person. A person who is first in the current order of succession but could be displaced by the birth of a more eligible heir is known as an heir presumptive. Today these terms most commonly describe heirs to hereditary titles (e.g. titles of nobility) or offices, especially when only inheritable by a single person. Most monarchies refer to the heir apparent of their thrones with the descriptive term of ''crown prince'' or ''crown princess'', but they may also be accorded with a more specific substantive title: such as Prince of Orange in the Netherlands, Duke of Brabant in Belgium, Prince of Asturias in Spain (also granted to heirs presumptive), or the Prince of Wales in England and Wales; former titles include Dauphin in the Kingdom of France, and Tsesarevich in Imperial Russia. The term is also applied metaphorically to an expected succe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matilda Geddings Gray
Matilda Geddings Gray (March 18, 1885 – February 26, 1971) was an American heiress, businesswoman, art collector, and philanthropist. Life She was one of three children born to wealthy oilman John Geddings Gray of Lake Charles. Her siblings were brothers Henry and Bill. Upon her father's death, she became heir to his fortune and took over the family oil and timber businesses. With a passion for historic preservation, in 1938 she restored the John Gauche House in the New Orleans French Quarter. The Evergreen Plantation, now a U.S. National Historic Landmark, was one of her projects. She preferred her philanthropic deeds be low-key, so as not to put her in the spotlight. Among those deeds was an international act of generosity to the nations of France and England to help them cope with post-World War II food shortages. During this time, she shipped over 250,000 pounds of rice to those countries. Gray collected Fabergé objects, including the Fabergé eggs Napoleonic, Danis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Armand Hammer
Armand Hammer (May 21, 1898 – December 10, 1990) was an American businessman and philanthropist. The son of a Russian Empire-born communist activist, Hammer trained as a physician before beginning his career in trade with the newly established Soviet Union. Having made his fortune in pharmaceuticals and whiskey, he nearly retired before coming into control of the then-failing Occidental Petroleum in 1956. He spent the next 33 years as chief executive officer and chairman of the company, overseeing its growth to become one of the largest companies in the U.S. Called "Lenin's chosen capitalist" by the press, he was also known for his art collection and his close ties to the Soviet Union. Hammer's business interests around the world and his " citizen diplomacy" helped him cultivate a wide network of friends and associates. Early life Armand Hammer was born in New York City to Rose (''née'' Lipschitz) and Julius Hammer. Rose and Julius Hammer were Jewish emigrants from th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hammer Galleries
Victor J. Hammer (November 1, 1901 – July 21, 1985) was an American businessman, the founder and owner of Hammer Galleries in New York City, and a philanthropist. Early life and education Hammer was born in New York City, to Ukrainian-born Jewish immigrants, Julius and Rose (née Lipshitz) Hammer. His father came to the United States from Odessa in the Russian Empire (today Ukraine) in 1875, and settled in The Bronx, where he ran a general medical practice and five drugstores. Victor Hammer attended Princeton University, where he graduated in 1921 with a degree in art history. His older brother was businessman Armand Hammer. Career He was business partner of his brother Armand on several business ventures, including Hammer Galleries in New York City, founded in 1928 as a way to funnel profits made in the Soviet Union out of that country. At one point, British Intelligence believed Hammer Galleries was a front for Soviet Intelligence. The Hammer brothers had been in contac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antikvariat
Antikvariat () was a Russian department of the Ministry of Trade set up by Lenin in 1921 following the Russian Revolution to handle the sale and export of art pieces acquired by the revolutionary government from Russian museums such as the Hermitage and Gatchina Palace, from Russian churches, and from Russian elites who either had been forced to surrender them to the new government, had fled the country without them, or were executed during the revolution. Among these state treasures were 30 of the 40 Fabergé eggs that had been held by the Moscow Armory following the abdication of the last Russian tsar, Nicholas II. The new government of Russia began its existence in dire financial straits. Lenin and later Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ... needed money as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna Of Russia
Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia (; – 24 November 1960) was the youngest child of Emperor Alexander III of Russia and younger sister of Emperor Nicholas II. Olga was raised at the Gatchina Palace outside Saint Petersburg. Olga's relationship with her mother, Empress Marie, the daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark, was strained and distant from childhood. In contrast, she and her father were close. He died when she was 12, and her brother Nicholas became emperor. In 1901, at 19, she married Duke Peter Alexandrovich of Oldenburg, who was privately believed by family and friends to be homosexual. Their marriage of 15 years remained unconsummated, and Peter at first refused Olga's request for a divorce. The couple led separate lives and their marriage was eventually annulled by the Emperor in October 1916. The following month Olga married cavalry officer Nikolai Kulikovsky, with whom she had fallen in love several years before. During the First World War, Olga s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich Of Russia
Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich of Russia (; – 30 October 1956) was the youngest son of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia, and thus a grandson of Emperor Alexander II and a first cousin of Nicholas II, the last Russian emperor. In 1900, he began an affair with the famous ballerina Mathilde Kschessinska, becoming the third grand duke to fall for her. Grand Duke Andrei followed a military career and graduated from the Alexandrovskaya Military Law academy in Saint Petersburg in 1905. He occupied different military positions during the reign (1894-1917) of Emperor Nicholas II, but with no particular distinction. He became a senator in 1911 and was appointed to the rank of Major General in the Imperial Russian Army in 1915. He took part in World War I, but was away from real combat, spending most of the conflict at Russia's General Staff headquarters or in idle time in ceremonial positions in Saint Petersburg. In February 1917, shortly before the fall of the Russian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix Of Hesse)
Alexandra Feodorovna (, born Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine; 6 June 1872 – 17 July 1918) was the last Empress of Russia as the consort of Tsar Nicholas II from their marriage on until his forced abdication on . A granddaughter of Queen Victoria, Alexandra was one of the most famous royal carriers of hemophilia and passed the condition to her son, Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia. Alexandra was deeply involved in the personal and political life of her husband, Tsar Nicholas II. Her reputation suffered due to her influence over Nicholas, particularly in her insistence on maintaining autocratic rule in the face of growing revolutionary pressures in Russia. Her relationship with the Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin became a subject of controversy. Rasputin's alleged ability to alleviate Alexei's suffering from hemophilia increased Alexandra's reliance on him, damaging the public perception of the Romanovs and fueling rumors about Rasputin's power within the royal fa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich Of Russia
Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia (; 13 June 1918) was the youngest son and fifth child of Emperor Alexander III of Russia and youngest brother of Nicholas II. He was designated Emperor of Russia after his brother Nicholas II of Russia, Nicholas II abdicated in 1917 and proclaimed him "Emperor Michael II", but Michael declined to take power a day later. Michael was born during the reign of his paternal grandfather, Alexander II of Russia, Alexander II. He was then fourth in line to the throne after his father and elder brothers Nicholas and Grand Duke George Alexandrovich of Russia, George. After the Assassination of Alexander II of Russia, assassination of his grandfather in 1881, he became third in line and, in 1894, after the death of his father, second in line. George died in 1899, leaving Michael as heir presumptive to Nicholas II. The birth of Nicholas's son Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia, Alexei in 1904 moved Michael back to second in line, but Alexei w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna Of Russia
Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia (Tatiana Nikolaevna Romanova; ; – 17 July 1918) was the second daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, the last monarch of Russia, and of Tsarina Alexandra. She was born at Peterhof Palace, near Saint Petersburg. Tatiana was the younger sister of Grand Duchess Olga and the elder sister of Grand Duchess Maria, Grand Duchess Anastasia, and Tsarevich Alexei. She was considered to be the most beautiful of all her sisters and the most aristocratic in appearance. She was known amongst her siblings as "the governess" for her domineering but also maternal ways. Tatiana was the closest of all the children to her mother ( Tsarina Alexandra), often spending many hours reading to her. During World War I, she chaired many charitable committees and (along with her older sister, Grand Duchess Olga) trained to become a nurse. She tended to wounded soldiers on the grounds of Tsarskoye Selo from 1914 to 1917. Her time as a nurse came to an end with her fam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna Of Russia
Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia (Olga Nikolaevna Romanova; ; – 17 July 1918) was the eldest child of the last Russian emperor, Nicholas II, and of his wife Alexandra. During her lifetime, Olga's future marriage was the subject of great speculation within Russia. Matches were rumored with Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia, Crown Prince Carol of Romania, Edward, Prince of Wales, eldest son of Britain's George V, and with Crown Prince Alexander of Serbia. Olga herself wanted to marry a Russian and remain in her home country. During World War I, she nursed wounded soldiers in a military hospital until her own nerves gave out and, thereafter, oversaw administrative duties at the hospital. Olga's murder following the Russian Revolution of 1917 resulted in her canonization as a passion bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church. In the 1990s, her remains were identified through DNA testing and were buried in a funeral ceremony at Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Peter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
