Fabergé Friday

We still have many eggs left in line, and here comes Imperial Easter Egg number twenty - The "Pansy Egg", from 1899!

This egg was formerly known as the "Spinach Jade Egg", and is made of nephrite, gold, diamonds, and white, red, green, and opaque violet enamel. It rests on a bouquet of twisted gold leaves, from which grows five flowers and five buds of pansies, enameled in various nuances of violet and set with diamonds. 

The top of the egg can be removed, to reveal the surprise - a gold tripod on which sits a heart decorated with diamonds, strawberry and white enamel, and mother of pearl!

The heart is surmounted with the Imperial crown, and carries eleven scarlet medallions decorated with the monograms of the members of the Imperial family. By pressing a button the tiny medallions opens up to reveal portraits of the ones the monograms belong to.

The miniatures portray, first row:

• Tsarevich George Alexandrovich, younger brother of the Tsar.
• Grand Duke Alexander Michailovich, husband of the Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna, the Tsar's sister.

Second row:

• Tsar Nicholas II.
• Princess Irina, daughter of Grand Duke Alexander Michailovich and Grand Duchess Xenia.

Third row:

• Grand Duchess Olga Nicolaievna, the first daughter of the Tsar and Tsarina.
• Grand Duchess Tatiana Nicolaievna, their second daughter.
• Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich, the youngest brother of the Tsar.

Fourth row:

• The Tsarina Alexandra.
• Prince Andrew Alexandrovich, brother of Princess Irina.

Fifth row:

• Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna, sister of the Tsar.
• Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna, also sister of the Tsar.

The "Pansy Egg" is one of few Imperial Easter Eggs that still remains in a private collection. In 1947 it was bought from the Hammer Galleries by Matilda Geddings Grey, an oil heiress from New Orleans, Louisiana. The egg was then given to her niece Mrs Matilda Gray Stream as a wedding anniversary present.