The State Hermitage Museum: Exhibitions

The Making of Porcelain Easter Eggs

In the 18th century Easter eggs were mainly produced by the Imperial Porcelain Factory, which had been founded in St Petersburg in 1744 during the reign of Empress Elizabeth (1741-1761).

In the early period of its activities the factory did not have a large kiln and it only produced small-sized tableware, utensils, snuff-boxes, figurines and Easter eggs. The early Easter eggs were already fairly varied in size and decoration. They were made smooth for painting or decorated with relief ornament of flowers, figures or cupids. The Easter eggs that have survived from the time of Elizabeth Petrovna and Catherine II are in the main quite small and decorated with ornamental or floral painting.

In the course of the second half of the 18th century and the entire 19th century a variety of techniques and forms of decoration were devised. In the 19th century the subjects for the painting and ornamentation of Easter eggs changed in line with the general evolution of styles.

The records of the Imperial Porcelain Factory divided the Easter eggs into three categories depending on theme and complexity of execution.

The first category consisted of labour-intensive eggs with miniature pictures. They carry depictions of Christian festivals and saints, views of cities, monasteries and churches. They were executed by the factory's best copyists, masters of figurative painting. This category was priced most highly - between 25 and 75 roubles a piece. They were produced in limited quantities - a few dozen a year and were intended chiefly for the imperial family.

The second group was made up of eggs bearing the monograms of the ruling emperor and his spouse. They became common in the reigns of Alexander III and Nicholas II. In terms of decoration they are very varied. The monograms were inscribed on a coloured background, most often red glaze or a deep underglaze cobalt, and also on a white background framed by ornaments and floral garlands. The imperial monogram was decorated with ornament, executed in the etching technique, and painted with toned gold of various shades. Such eggs were produced in strictly determined quantities as personal gifts from the emperor or empress. During the First World War simplified versions of the eggs with the monograms of members of the imperial family appeared, often supplemented with a red cross. They cost between three and five roubles and were produced in their thousands. Eggs bearing the Russian coat of arms should also be included in the group of official gift items carrying symbols of the state. Judging by extant examples, they began to be made in the mid-19th century, but production of them increased considerably towards the end of the century.

The third and most numerous category consisted of eggs with ornamental and floral decoration. The style and manner in which they were painted followed the general evolution of porcelain as an art form. Exactly the same elements can quite often be found on tableware and vases made in the imperial factory. The varied of floral and ornamental motifs is inexhaustible, just like the real world of nature with its flora and fauna. The number of Easter eggs decorated with ornament, flowers and birds reached several thousand each year. This same group included eggs bearing the Cyrillic abbreviation XB or the full text of the Easter greeting - Khristos Voskrese (Christ is Risen) in a more or less complex decorative setting.

The range of subjects and sources for Russian Easter eggs was enormously wide. On the eggs one could find copies of paintings by famous European artists, of church frescoes and of icons painted by Russian artists. The most common subjects were episodes from the earthly life of Christ, Christian festivals, saints and martyrs, the most venerated Russian monasteries and churches, and views of Palestine with its Christian holy places. One can also come across secular subjects: depictions of architectural ensembles in and around St Petersburg, seascapes, allegories, pastoral and gallant scenes. Far rarer are depictions of events from recent history. In the second quarter of the 19th century copying paintings from the gallery of the Imperial Hermitage, the Winter Palace collection and other imperial residences was a popular way of decorating porcelain articles. The appearance of lithography in 1816 encouraged the spread of reproduction prints. The works of famous painters, hidden in palaces and galleries, the frescoes of famous cathedrals, views of distant cities and celebrated works of architecture, portraits of rulers and outstanding figures of the age now became accessible to the broad masses of the population. Of course this extensive body of material was also used by artists as a resource for copying.

From the mid-19th century the appearance of famous places of worship recently constructed was also often reproduced on porcelain eggs - Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, St Isaac's in Petersburg, St Vladimir's Cathedral in Kiev. The icons of St Isaac's Cathedral were copied especially frequently.

Easter eggs are among the most anonymous and hard to attribute porcelain items. They were rarely marked. One of the earliest marks - in the form of a double-headed eagle impressed into the paste - can be found on the Easter eggs from Elizabeth's reign. During the reign of Nicholas I (1825-1855) impressed marks featuring the Emperor's monogram (HI) appear. Under Nicholas II (1894-1917) individual items, made to special commission, were marked. The names of those who produced the original designs for the decoration of Easter eggs and those who reproduced them have for the most part not survived.

The work was broken down into the following stages: first a watercolour sketch was made, then the best arists painted a prototype egg, adapting the flat image to the curved ovoid surface. Specialists in ornamental painting devised a decorative frame and a design for the reverse side. The factory's copyists then used such prototypes to produce the required number of eggs, the figure compositions, landscapes and ornament being executed by craftsmen with the relevant specialization.

After the revolution in 1917 the Church was separated from the state in Russia and subjected to severe trials and persecutions. The imperial factory, now the state factory, concentrated its efforts on the creation of porcelain bearing slogans and emblems propagandizing the new order. The making of Easter eggs ceased and was resumed only recently. In the past few years many artists at the Lomonosov (former Imperial) and other porcelain factories have enthusiastically taken up the decoration of Easter eggs once more. Some imitate the approaches of the craftsmen of the past, while others work in their own individual manner. This is evidence that an age-old form of artistic creativity is reviving and acquiring a new life in the present day.

Easter egg bearing the Russian state coat of arms
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