Constellation (Fabergé egg)

The Constellation egg is one of two Easter eggs designed under the supervision of Peter Carl Fabergé in 1917, for the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II as an Easter gift to his wife, the Tsarina Alexandra Fyodorovna. It was the last Imperial Fabergé egg designed. It remains unfinished.

Constellation Fabergé egg
Unfinished egg from Fersman Mineralogical Museum
Year deliveredUnfinished (1917)
CustomerNicholas II
RecipientAlexandra Feodorovna
Current owner
Individual or institutionFersman Mineralogical Museum / Faberge Museum
Year of acquisition2001 / late 1990s
Design and materials
Materials usedGlass, diamond, crystal

Description

Due to the Russian Revolution of 1917, the egg was never finished or presented to Tsar Nicholas' wife, the Tsaritsa Alexandra Feodorovna.

The egg, as it is known from a 1917 document, was made of blue glass with a crystal base, and the Leo sign of the zodiac is engraved on the glass. (The heir to the Russian throne, Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia, was a Leo.) There are stars that are marked by diamonds, and there is a clock mechanism inside the egg.

First egg

In 2001, a similar item was discovered in the Fersman Mineralogical Museum in Moscow, and experts believe it to be an unfinished egg made by Fabergé.[1] It is an unfinished item without diamonds. In recent years there have been several suggested sources of inspiration for the piece.[2]

Second egg

Russian millionaire Alexander Ivanov claims that he owns the original (and finished)[3] egg. In 2003–2004 he said that he acquired this egg in the late 1990s and affirms that "the Fersman Museum erroneously continues to claim that it has the original egg." Western authorities do not agree. However, Mr Ivanov's egg is in the Fabergé Museum in Baden-Baden, which houses part of his Fabergé collection.

References
  1. Карл Фаберже и мастера камнерезного дела. Самоцветные сокровища России. // Carl Faberge and masters of stone carving. Russian gems. Catalogue of the exhibition in Kremlin, Moscow. 2011. P. 62.
  2. The Blue Constellation Egg and the Golden Age of Pictorial Star Atlases
  3. See photo

Sources
  • Faber, Toby (2008). Faberge's Eggs: The Extraordinary Story of the Masterpieces That Outlived an Empire. Random House. ISBN 978-1-4000-6550-9.
  • Forbes, Christopher; Prinz von Hohenzollern, Johann Georg (1990). FABERGE; The Imperial Eggs. Prestel. ASIN B000YA9GOM.
  • Lowes, Will (2001). Fabergé Eggs: A Retrospective Encyclopedia. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-3946-6.
  • Snowman, A Kenneth (1988). Carl Faberge: Goldsmith to the Imperial Court of Russia. Gramercy. ISBN 0-517-40502-4.

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