Fabergé Friday

It's the day before Christmas Eve - the day we celebrate Christmas here in Sweden - so what can fit better than a blog post about Easter eggs?! Or, more exactly, one named the "Rosebud egg" - Imperial Easter Egg number eleven, from the year 1895! This egg was made for Tsar Nicholas II, who gave it to his wife Alexandra Feodorovna.

Made out of red enamel, the egg is then decorated with rows of diamonds, garlands of gold laurel and Cupid's arrows. 

On top sits a miniature of Nicholas II, and in the base, the year of creation is set underneath a diamond.

The egg opens up like a bonbonnière to reveal a yellow-enameled rosebud. Originally the bud contained two surprises of it's own - a miniature replica of the Imperial crown, representing Alexandra's new life as Empress of Russia, and a ruby egg pendant hanging within it. Only the pendant is now to be found though...

Princess Alexandra missed the rose garden of Rosenhöhe, Darmstadt, where she lived before marrying Nicholas and moving to Russia to become it's new Empress. The yellow tea rose was the most valued in the Empress' native Germany, but the climate in St Petersburg was too harsh to grow it there. The "Rosebud egg" was then made to remind her of her beloved roses, at her first Easter with her new husband.

For decades this egg was missing, reputed to have been damaged in a marital dispute. Now though, it has been found, and is part of Christian Thomas Lee's art collection.