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  Faberge. Lost and Found The Anteroom of the Winter Palace is showing the collection of one of the most important collectors of works by Faberge, Malcolm Stevenson Forbes (1919-1990), editor-in-chief and president of Forbes Inc., who assembled his collection over the course of several decades. This collection is on display in its country of origin thanks to Russian entrepreneur Victor Vekselberg, chairman of the board of OAO SUAL Holding, which purchased it from Malcolm Forbes’ heirs and has made it available for viewing by Russians. The exhibition has been organized jointly by the State Hermitage and the Bond of Time Cultural-Historical Foundation. At the heart of the collection are nine Easter eggs, which constitute the second largest group (after the Armory in the Moscow Kremlin) of the famous paschal surprises which emperors Alexander III and Nicholas II gave to their august spouses. In 1917 they were taken away to Moscow and during the 1920’s and ’30’s many were sold abroad. The exhibition consists of 26 items, including 15 Easter eggs, nine of which belonged to the imperial family. The first egg in this series, The Hen, was made by Faberge at the behest of Emperor Alexander III for Empress Maria Fedorovna in 1885, possibly to mark the 20th anniversary of their betrothral. It imitates a natural egg and is golden, covered with a white opaque enamel. Inside there is a surprise in the form of a chicken figurine which held in its beak a ruby egg (presently lost). For Easter, 1894 Empress Maria Fedorovna was given the agate Renaissance egg, which is nearly an exact copy of a chalcedony casket dating from the early 18th century by the Amsterdam master Le Roi that is kept in the collection of the Grunes Gewolbe Museum in Dresden. The Rose Bud egg was made for the new empress Alexandra Fedorovna in 1895. The bud of a yellow rose is kept in a golden egg which is covered with red transparent enamel. One item of special interest in the exhibition is the Coronation egg of 1897, which was made to commemorate the coronation of the imperial couple on 9 May 1896. The surprise inside is a miniature carriage which is a copy of the one the Empress rode in when she entered Moscow. The Lillies of the Valley egg was made for Empress Alexandra Fedorovna in 1898. It contained miniature portraits of Nicholas II and the Grand Duchesses Olga and Tatyana. We are told that the Peacock clock in the Hermitage served as a model for the clock-egg called The Rooster, which was presented to Empress Maria Fedorovna for Easter in 1900. The Laurel Tree egg was made for Maria Fedorovna in 1911. This is a free copy of a work by a French master dating from the middle of the 18th century. Faberge’s Laurel Tree has 325 nephrite leaves, 110 flowers made of enamel and a great many precious stones. For Easter, 1911 Empress Alexandra Fedorovna’s crowned husband gave her the Fifteenth Anniversary of the Reign egg, which celebrates the anniversary of their accession to the throne. The egg is decorated with miniature portraits of the imperial family and with miniatures depicting the most important episodes from the history of the House of Romanovs. One of the last eggs created for the empresses was the Order of St George egg in 1916. Maria Fedorovna took this egg with her to the West when she left Russia in 1919. Besides the imperial Easter eggs, the exhibition displays precious eggs which were owned by others, as well as a number of articles of jewelry from the Karl Faberge atelier which serve to broaden our understanding of this outstanding master jeweler. |
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