The Gatchina Palace Egg, an Easter gift for the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna
The Gatchina Palace Egg, is a jewelled enamel Easter egg made under the supervision of the Russian jeweler Peter Carl Fabergé in 1901.
It was a gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his mother, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, for Easter.
The egg opens to reveal a miniature gold replica of the Gatchina Palace, that was built for Count Grigory Orlov.
The intricately detailed work shows cannons, a flag, a statue of Paul I, and elements of the landscape.
The egg was created by Fabergé’s workmaster, Mikhail Evlampievich Perkhin, and is crafted from gold, enamel, silver-gilt, diamonds, rock crystal, and seed pearls.
In 1920, the egg was in the possession of Alexander Polovtsov, who was a former employee at the Gatchina Palace who later started an antique shop in Paris.
It is not known how Mr. Polovtsov acquired the egg.
In 1930, this egg was sold to American Henry Walters.
In 1936, the egg was exhibited at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, and it has been on permanent display since 1952.
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