Alexander III Portraits

The Alexander III Portraits egg is a jewelled Easter egg made under the supervision of the Russian jeweller Peter Carl Fabergé in 1896, for Nicholas II of Russia.[1]

It was presented by Nicholas II to his mother, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. The egg is one of four commemorating Alexander III; the other three are the missing Empire Nephrite (1902) and Alexander III Commemorative (1909) eggs and the Alexander III Equestrian egg (1910).[2]

The Egg may have been lent to a London Exhibition in 1935. The 1896 Alexander III Portraits Egg was previously identified as the 1895 Twelve Monograms Egg and is held at the Hillwood Museum in Washington, D.C.[3][4][5] This theory is now universally agreed and been accepted by Hillwood Museum The discovery of the Third Imperial Egg in early 2014 supports this theory, since it refutes the assumption that the Blue Serpent Clock Egg is the third imperial egg, and shows it is the 1895 egg.

Surprise

It is believed that this egg contained six miniatures of Emperor Alexander III painted on an ivory background and mounted with sapphires


See also


References

  1. ↑ 1896 Twelve Monogram Egg / Alexander III Portraits Egg, Mieks Fabergé Eggs.
  2. ↑ List of Fabergé Eggs, Mieks Fabergé Eggs.
  3. ↑ http://www.mieks.com/eng/1887_Third_Imperial_Egg.htm
  4. ↑ Von Habsburg, Geza, in, Fabergé Revealed 2011, p. 29, note 62.
  5. ↑ Mieks Fabergé Eggs