Mauve (Fabergé egg)

1897 Imperial Fabergé egg

Mauve Fabergé egg
The opened photo frame surprise
Year delivered	1897
Customer	Nicholas II
Recipient	Maria Feodorovna
Current owner
Individual or institution	Fabergé Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia (surprise only)
Year of acquisition	2004
Design and materials
Materials used	Rose-cut diamonds, strawberry red, green and white enamel, pearls and watercolor on ivory
Height	82 millimetres (3.2 in)
Surprise	A heart shaped photo frame

The Mauve egg is a jewelled Easter egg made under the supervision of the Russian jeweller Peter Carl Fabergé in 1897, for Nicholas II of Russia, who presented it to his mother, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna on April 18, 1897.^[1]

One of six imperial Fabergé eggs which are currently lost, Fabergé billed Nicholas II for the egg, described as a "mauve enamel egg, with 3 miniatures" on May 17, 1897 for 3,250 rubles.^[1]^[2]

Surprise

The surprise is a heart shaped photo frame that opened as a three-leaf clover with each leaf containing three miniature portraits of Nicholas II, his wife, the Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna, and their first child, Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna. It was made of rose-cut diamonds, strawberry red, green and white enamel, pearls and watercolour on ivory.^[1] The surprise is now on display in the Fabergé Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Faberge — Treasures of Imperial Russia". Archived from the original on 2012-04-13.
^ Krivoshey, Dmitry; Nicholson, Nicholas B. A.; Skurlov, Valentin (2017). "Fabergé: The Imperial "Empire" Egg of 1902" (pdf). New York: Academia.edu: 74. Retrieved 2019-10-08. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

Sources

Faber, Toby (2008). Faberge's Eggs: The Extraordinary Story of the Masterpieces That Outlived an Empire. Random House. ISBN 978-1-4000-6550-9.
Forbes, Christopher; Prinz von Hohenzollern, Johann Georg (1990). FABERGE; The Imperial Eggs. Prestel. ASIN B000YA9GOM.
Lowes, Will (2001). Fabergé Eggs: A Retrospective Encyclopedia. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-3946-6.
Snowman, A Kenneth (1988). Carl Faberge: Goldsmith to the Imperial Court of Russia. Gramercy. ISBN 0-517-40502-4.