Fabergé Friday

We have now reached Imperial Easter Egg number forty-seven - the "Romanov Tercentenary Egg", from 1913!

In 1913 the 300th anniversary of the Romanov Dynasty was celebrated, and this egg was made to commemorate the event. The gold egg is faced with white transparent enamel on a guilloche background. This surface is almost covered in over 1100 diamonds and gold state symbols though. There are double-headed eagles, royal crowns, and wreathes. But there are also eighteen miniatures, framed with diamonds, of the Tsars of the house of Romanov. These are painted in watercolor on ivory by Vassily I. Zuev. At the top of the egg sits a large diamond with the years "1613" and "1913" engraved under it, and at the bottom sits a triangular diamond covering the monogram "A.F.". The portraits are as follows:

Mikhail Feodorovich 1613-1645

Alexei Mikhailovich 1645-1676

Feodor Alexeevich 1676-1682

Ivan V 1682-1696

Sofia Alexeevna 1682-1689

Peter The Great, Tsar 1682-1721,
 Emperor of Russia 1721-1725

Catharine I 1725-1727

Peter II 1727-1730

Anna Ivanova 1730-1741

Elizaveta Petrovna 1741-1761

Peter III 1761-1762

Catherine the Great 1762-1796

Paul I 1796-1802

Alexander I 1801-1825

Nicholas I 1825-1855

Alexander II 1855-1881

Alexander III 1881-1894

Nicholas II 1894-1917

The egg is held by a threefold heraldic eagle, symbolizing the power and glory of the Romanov Dynasty. The eagles are holding the Imperial scepter, orb and the Romanov sword in their talons. The purpurine base on which they stand represents the Russian Imperial shield. 

The inside of the egg is decorated with white opalescent enamel on a ground carved with guilloche ornaments. The surprise is a rotating globe, made of burnished blue steel - to represent water - and different colored gold - to represent land. The globe consists of two northern hemispheres. One half shows Russia's territory at the time when the first Romanov Tsar - Mikhail Feodorovich - entered the throne in 1613. And the other shows the territory of the Russian Empire in 1913, when Nicholas II ruled.

The "Romanov Tercentenary Egg" is one of ten Imperial Easter Eggs in the collection at the Kremlin Armory.