The Imperial Easter Eggs
Peter Carl Faberge` I t’s almost one a.m. on a chilly night before Easter. The year is 1885. In his workshop on Bolshya Morskaya a fashionable street in St. Petersburg, Peter Carl Faberge` is giving the final finishing touches to a beautiful golden Easter egg. This is no ordinary Easter egg and Faberge` is no ordinary jeweler. He's recently been titled ‘Master Jeweler’ and been awarded a gold medal by Tsar Alexander III. Faberge` had been commissioned by him to make an Easter egg for his wife Tsarina Maria Feodorovna. The Tsar wanted to present the egg to his wife on Easter and also celebrate their twentieth wedding anniversary The Hen Egg The next morning the Tsar presents the egg to his wife. The egg which came to be known as the ‘Hen Egg’, is crafted from a foundation of gold. Its opaque white enamelled ‘shell’ opens to reveal a matt yellow yolk made entirely of gold. The yolk in turn opens to reveal a golden hen that’s resting on a...