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Note: Most of the Imperial eggs are between three and six inches tall; a few, such as the Trans-Siberian Railway and the Bay Tree eggs, are much larger – ten and eleven inches respectively. They are enameled and decorated with a variety of precious stones and materials including gold, silver, platinum, jade, lapis lazuli, ivory, diamonds, rubies and pearls. Much of the detail is infused with symbolism important to Russian culture in general and to Maria and Alexandra in particular.
The centuries-old tradition of bringing hand-dyed eggs to church to be blessed during the Easter midnight service, and then presenting them to family and friends, eventually evolved into the exchange of valuable Easter gifts among members of St. Petersburg society. At the command of Czar Alexander III, Peter Carl Fabergé would produce an Imperial Easter egg for Maria Fedorovna – and later also one for Czarina Alexandra – almost every year, until the fall of the Romanov dynasty.
The first Imperial Easter egg, also known as The Hen egg (1885), was created in honor of the twentieth anniversary of the betrothal of Alexander III and Maria Fedorovna, born Princess Dagmar of Denmark. It is a variation on an egg from the Danish royal collection, which Fabergé was likely to have seen during his travels in Europe. Whether it was Fabergé's idea to create a souvenir of Marie's Danish homeland, or a suggestion by Alexander, is unknown. But it was a wonderful and touching gift for the Empress. The last two surprises, the ruby crown and pendant, were lost when the egg was sold by the Bolsheviks in the 1920s.
The Danish Palaces egg (1890) opens to reveal a ten-panel screen of miniature paintings of royal residences and yachts. It must have be quite a delight for the Empress Marie, who had grown up in Denmark, to see all the wonderful places she lived in and loved during her childhood as a Danish princess.
When Nicholas' younger brother, Grand Duke Georgii Alexandrovich, was stricken with tuberculosis, he took up residence in the Imperial hunting lodge at Abastuman, where the climate was better for his health. The Caucasus egg (1893) is decorated with four ivory miniatures showing views of the lodge. Behind the hinged cover at the top of the egg is a portrait of the Grand Duke in his naval uniform.
This egg was the last to be presented to Maria by Alexander before his untimely death. The Renaissance egg (1894) was closely modeled after an eighteenth century casket by Le Roy, now located in Dresden at the Grüne Gewölbe. The nature of the surprise it contained remains unknown.
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