The Catherine the Great egg, also known as Grisaille Egg and Pink Cameo Egg, is an 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 ...

, one of a series of fifty-four jewelled enameled

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 ...

s made under the supervision of

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 ...

for the

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Imperial family A royal family is the immediate family of monarch, monarchs and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or emperor, empress, and the term papal family describes the family of ...

History

It was an Easter 1914 gift for Tsarina Maria Feodorovna from her son Tsar

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 ...

, who had a standing order of two Easter eggs every year, one for his mother and one for his wife. The egg was made by Henrik Wigström, "Fabergé's last head workmaster". The egg in gold and diamonds on a claw-foot stand features pink enamel panels painted in cameo style with miniature allegorical scenes of the arts and sciences based on French artist

François Boucher François Boucher ( , ; ; 29 September 1703 – 30 May 1770) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher, who worked in the Rococo style. Boucher is known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories ...

. The Dowager Empress described the egg in a letter to her sister,

Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom Alexandra of Denmark (Alexandra Caroline Marie Charlotte Louise Julia; 1 December 1844 – 20 November 1925) was List of British royal consorts, queen-consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, from 22 Januar ...

He icholas IIwrote me a most charming letter and presented me with a most beautiful Easter egg. Fabergé brought it to me himself. It is a true ''chef d'oeuvre'' in pink enamel and inside a ''porte-chaise'' carried by two
negroes In the English language, the term ''negro'' (or sometimes ''negress'' for a female) is a term historically used to refer to people of Black African heritage. The term ''negro'' means the color black in Spanish and Portuguese (from Latin ''niger ...
with Empress Catherine in it wearing a little crown on her head. You wind it up and then the negroes walk: it is an unbelievable beautiful and superbly fine piece of work. Fabergé is the greatest genius of our time, I also told him: ''Vous êtes un génie incomparable''.

The egg's surprise, also described as "a mechanical

sedan chair The litter is a class of wheelless vehicles, a type of human-powered transport, for the transport of people. Smaller litters may take the form of open chairs or beds carried by two or more carriers, some being enclosed for protection from the el ...

, carried by two blackamoors, with Catherine the Great seated inside" has since been lost. It forms part of the

Marjorie Merriweather Post Marjorie Merriweather Post (March 15, 1887 – September 12, 1973) was an American businesswoman, socialite, and philanthropist. She was the daughter of C. W. Post and the owner of General Foods, General Foods Corporation. For much of Post's l ...

collection at Hillwood Museum in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Its Easter 1914 counterpart (presented to the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna) is the Mosaic Egg, now in the

Royal Collection The Royal Collection of the British royal family is the largest private art collection in the world. Spread among 13 occupied and historic List of British royal residences, royal residences in the United Kingdom, the collection is owned by King ...

in London. The stand in four colour gold has four legs ending in lion's feet and crossed arrows joining legs to each other. Commissioned by Post and made in 1940, it was modelled after that of the 1898 Pelican egg, but replicating some of the decorative elements seen in the Catherine the Great egg, like the typically

Louis XVI style Louis XVI style, also called ''Louis Seize'', is a style of architecture, furniture, decoration and art which developed in France during the 19-year reign of Louis XVI (1774–1792), just before the French Revolution. It saw the final phase of t ...

interlacing pattern.

References

External links

Catherine the Great Easter Egg at Hillwood

{{DEFAULTSORT:Catherine the Great (Faberge egg) Imperial Fabergé eggs 1914 works Catherine the Great

History

References

Further reading

External links