This extraordinary openable egg is the reminiscent of the exquisite Faberge egg, presented by Nicholas II to his wife, the Empress Alexandra Federovna for Easter 1902. Egg that was never sold by the Russian government and has remained in Russia. It is one of the most unusual of the Eggs. It is constructed in the plique-a-jour style with a melange of three and four leaf clovers both in green enamel with veining of gold in relief and diamond studded clover leaves all with a red enamel ribbon running through the leaves (Plique-a-jour literally means open to daylight and this Egg is exactly that. You can look through the leaves and see the interior of the Egg).
The Egg is not attached but rests on a clover footed stand which consists of clovers bound to each other by their twined stems. Original to the Egg was a four leaf clover with portraits of the four Grand Duchesses, daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra that stood in the interior of the Egg. This went missing during the Revolution and is not mentioned in any of the descriptive documents after the fall of the Romanovs.
The Faberge eggs began in 1884 with an Easter egg made by the brilliant Russian jeweller Faberge for the Russian tsar Alexander III that became a gift for his wife.
Then Nicholas II, Alexander's son and last Russian Emperor continued the tradition.
You can get more information about Hermitage and Russian tsar's family in our Books and Films
NOTE: plique-a-jour is a technique used by jewelers, stained glass artists and cloisonné artists forming an open framework of wires or fine metal strips that are fastened to each other, rather than to a supporting surface, that is then filled with either enamel or stained glass.
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