Year delivered 1899 Individual or institution Matilda Gray Stream | Customer Nicholas II Year of acquisition 1947 | |
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Recipient Dowager Empress Maria Feodoronova Similar Pelican, Imperial Coronation Egg, Rose Trellis, Alexander Palace, Rosebud | ||
The 1899 Pansy Egg or Spinach Jade Egg is one of the 50 Imperial Russian Fabergé eggs and was commissioned by Tsar Nicholas II as an Easter gift for his mother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodoronova. Its design was overseen by the jeweler Peter Carl Fabergé. It is one of only two done in the art nouveau style (the other is the Lilies of the valley Egg).
The egg is made of nephrite and has a stand made of gilt silver in the form of branches twisting up about the bottom of the egg (the egg points downward). Around the sides are five pansies with enameled leaves and petals. The top of the egg— a nephrite dome— lifts off to reveal the egg's surprise.
Regarding the "surprise":
Within is a gold easel surmounted by a diamond-set Star of Bethlehem inside a wreath over the year; the easel is fluted and embellished with carved gold floral and torch motifs and is set with gems and pearls. On it rests a heart-shaped plaque enamelled opalescent white on a sun-ray guilloché background and bordered by rose diamonds set in silver and surmounted by the Romanov crown also in diamonds. Eleven tiny
When a button is pressed, the covers open simultaneously revealing miniatures of the Imperial Family. Reading vertically, those in the first column are:
In the second column are
In the third column are:
In the fourth column are
In the fifth column are:
Not shown are the Tsar's three other as-yet-unborn children.
This egg is among the 10 Fabergé eggs sold by the Russian Antikvariat in 1930 and was purchased by the Hammer Galleries of New York. The Galleries owner, Armand Hammer, then who sold it to the New Orleans oil heiress Matilda Geddings Gray in 1947. She in turn gave it to her niece, Mrs. Matilda Gray Stream, as a wedding anniversary present. It is one of the very few Imperial Fabergé Easter eggs to remain in a private collection.