The Bouquet of Lilies Clock egg (or the Madonna Lily Clock egg) is a jewelled

Easter egg Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian holiday of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are commonly used during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The ...

made under the supervision of the

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

jeweller

Peter Carl Fabergé Peter Carl Gustavovich Fabergé (; – 24 September 1920; also known as Charles Fabergé) was a Russian goldsmith and jeweller. He is best known for creating Fabergé eggs made in the style of genuine Easter eggs, but using precious metals and ...

in 1899 for

Tsar Tsar (; also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar''; ; ; sr-Cyrl-Latn, цар, car) is a title historically used by Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean ''emperor'' in the Euro ...

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 ...

as an Easter gift to his wife, the Tsaritsa Alexandra Fyodorovna. It is currently held in the

Kremlin Armoury The Kremlin ArmouryOfficially called the "Armoury Chamber" but also known as the cannon yard, the "Armoury Palace", the "Moscow Armoury", the "Armoury Museum", and the "Moscow Armoury Museum" but different from the Kremlin Arsenal. () is one of ...

Museum in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, and it is one of the few imperial

Fabergé egg A Fabergé egg () is a jewelled egg first created by the jewellery firm House of Fabergé, in Saint Petersburg, Russia. As many as 69 Czarist Russia Era eggs were created, of which 61 are currently known to have survived. Virtually all of the ...

s that were never sold after the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

Design

The Bouquet of Lilies Clock egg is one of the larger

s. The egg-shaped clock and its rectangular pedestal are decorated with translucent enamel on a

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. Engine turning m ...

background. The body of the clock is divided into twelve parts which are outlined in diamond-studded stripes. The belt of the dial which revolves around the perimeter of the egg is enameled white with twelve

Roman numeral Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, ea ...

s set in diamonds. The hours are indicated by a diamond clock hand shaped like the head of an arrow in a drawn bow. The hand is fixed to an immobile

onyx Onyx is a typically black-and-white banded variety of agate, a silicate mineral. The bands can also be monochromatic with alternating light and dark bands. ''Sardonyx'' is a variety with red to brown bands alternated with black or white bands. ...

base. The varicolored gold base itself is decorated with rosettes and the date of its manufacture, 1899, is set in diamonds. It is designed as a vase with red-gold scrolls serving as extra supports at either side. A gold key was used to wind the mechanism. The clock is crowned with a bouquet of Madonna lilies, carved from onyx. The pistils of the flowers are set with three small rose diamonds, and the leaves and stems are of tinted gold. The egg uses the

language of flowers Floriography (language of flowers) is a means of cryptological communication through the use or arrangement of flowers. Meaning has been attributed to flowers for thousands of years, and some form of floriography has been practiced in tradition ...

which was well known at the time. The

rose A rose is either a woody perennial plant, perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred Rose species, species and Garden roses, tens of thousands of cultivar ...

s were symbols of love and the lilies were a symbol of purity and innocence.

Surprise

The surprise from this egg is currently missing, but from contemporary photographs it is known to have been a

ruby Ruby is a pinkish-red-to-blood-red-colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum ( aluminium oxide). Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapph ...

pendant with rose-cut diamonds.

References

* * * *

External links

Description at wintraecken.nl
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bouquet Of Lilies Clock (Faberge Egg) Imperial Fabergé eggs 1899 works Fabergé clock eggs Fabergé in the Moscow Kremlin Museums

Design

Surprise

See also

References

External links