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Imperial Red Cross Easter Egg

1915

designer

Peter Carl Fabergé

(Russian, 1846–1920)

workmaster

Henrik Wigström

(Russian, 1862–1923)

maker

House of Fabergé

(Russian, 1842–1918)

Russia, St. Petersburg

Gold, silver gilt, enamel, glass, ivory

Overall: 8.6 x 6.4 cm (3 3/8 x 2 1/2 in.)

The India Early Minshall Collection 1963.673

Location

211 Fabergé

Did you know?

This egg was confiscated by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution and sold by the government of Josef Stalin in the 1930s to raise money for the Soviet treasury.

Description

Commissioned to honor Empress Alexandra's founding of the Red Cross in Russia at the start of the First World War as well as the commitment to wartime service of her and her daughters Olga and Tatiana, this egg is poignant in its spare design. Compared to other Fabergé eggs elaborately ornamented with jewels, the egg reflects the mood of austerity in Russia during World War I with its two simple red enamel crosses, emblazoned with miniatures of Olga and Tatiana, over a white enamel background. When opened, the egg reveals a depiction of Christ's resurrection flanked by the patron saints of the two young grand duchesses.

Artist biography

Peter Carl Fabergé

Supplied most of the gifts exchanged by relatives of the imperial family in Russia, Denmark, Germany, and England for christenings, name days, birthdays, Christmas, and Easter.

Henrik Wigström

Workmaster for the House of Faberge based in St. Petersburg, Russia. Responsible for many of the imperial Easter eggs as well as enameled accessories and jewelry.

House of Fabergé

Peter Carl Faberge (1846-1920) took over the House of Faberge in 1870 from his father Carl Gustav Faberge who had founded the firm in 1842. Until 1881, the firm manufactured primarily jewelry for Saint Petersburg's aristocrats and wealthy elite. In 1885 the firm was awarded the coveted imperial warrant as goldsmith to the tsar and began to produce elaborate presentation Easter eggs as a gift for the tsarina from her husband every year. They also produced luxurious accessories, jewelry, and hardstone sculptures. At one point, Faberge employed over 300 workers including 22 workmasters who oversaw the production of the firm's jewelry and precious objects. A branch of the firm opened in Moscow in 1887, specializing in neo-Russian and pan-Slavic motifs in jewelry, silver, and enamel. Other branches followed in Kiev, London, and Odessa as well as new premises in Saint Petersburg. At the onset of the Russian Revolution, Peter Carl Faberge fled the country to Paris then Switzerland, where he died in 1920. His firm was nationalized by the Bolsheviks in 1918.

Inscriptions

Inscription

inscribed on interior of egg: symbols for Alpha and Omega and imperial crown for Alexandra Feodorovna; 1915; inscriptions in Cyrillic, Old Church Slavonic, and Roman letters which identify Sts. Olga and Tatiana and presumably describe the central scene of the triptych.

Inscription

Inscribed on silk velvet and satin lined case: double-headed eagle, Fabergé, Petersburg, Moscow, London (all in Cyrillic on lining of case); 17.559, abbreviation for "Red Cross" (in Cyrillic in red ink on outside of case).

Inscription

Hallmarks: 72, Kokoshnik, lower case alpha in script [assay mark of St. Petersburg, 1908-26]; H.W. [initials of workmaster Henrik Wigström]; Fabergé (in Cyrillic).

Provenance

?-1963

India Early Minshall [1885–1965], Cleveland, OH, bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art

1963-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Hawley, Henry H. Fabergé and His Contemporaries: The India Early Minshall Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1967. Mentioned: p. 30, cat. 11; Reproduced: p. 31. ingallslibrary.on.worldcat.org

Habsburg, Géza von, and David Park Curry. Fabergé in America. New York, NY: Thames and Hudson, 1996. Mentioned: pp. 23, 96-98, 115, cat. 99, 124; Reproduced: pp. 97, 115. ingallslibrary.on.worldcat.org

Tillander-Godenhielm, Ulla, and Peter Carl Fabergé. Fabergé: ja hänen suomalaiset mestarinsa. Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Tammi, 2008. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 216-217. ingallslibrary.on.worldcat.org

Harrison, Stephen, Emmanuel Ducamp, and Jeannine J. Falino. Artistic Luxury: Fabergé Tiffany Lalique. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in association with New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008. Mentioned: pp. 53-54, 177; Reproduced: pp. 55, 177; p. 328 cat. 62. ingallslibrary.on.worldcat.org

Franklin, David, and C. Griffith Mann. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in association with London: Scala Publishers, 2012. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 300-301. ingallslibrary.on.worldcat.org

McFerrin, Dorothy and Tatiana. Fabergé. From a Snowflake to an Iceberg: The McFerrin Collection. Houston, TX: McFerrin Foundation, 2013. Reproduced: p. 153. ingallslibrary.on.worldcat.org

Bidwell, Frederick E., and Leslie Cade. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in association with New York: Scala Arts Publishers, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 147 ingallslibrary.on.worldcat.org

Exhibition history

The Art of Carl Faberge. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA (organizer) (August 10-September 27, 1964).

The India Early Minshall Collection: Faberge and his Contemporaries. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 15, 1967-January 21, 1968).

Faberge 1846 - 1920. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (organizer) (June 23-October 23, 1977).

Intimate Images: Portrait Miniatures from Europe and America. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 26-October 17, 1993).

Faberge, Imperial Jeweler. St. George Hall of the Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation (June 18-August 15, 1993); Musée des arts Décoratifs, Paris, France (September 24, 1993-January 2, 1994); Victoria and Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (January 26-April 10, 1994).

Fabergé in America. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (February 12-May 5, 1996); Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (organizer) (May 25-July 28, 1996); Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (August 24-November 2, 1996); New Orleans Museum of Art (December 7, 1996-February 8, 1997); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 12-May 11, 1997).

Fabergé's Menagerie: The Animal Creations of the Fabergé Workshop. Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR (February 8-May 2, 2004).

Artistic Luxury: Fabergé Tiffany Lalique . The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 19, 2008-January 18, 2009); Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA (February 7-May 31, 2009).

From Rublev to Fabergé: The Journey of Russian Art and Culture to America. Museum & Gallery at Heritage Green, Greenville, SC (October 21, 2011-January 29, 2012).

Fabergé: Designing Luxury, from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (organizer) (October 14, 2012-January 13, 2013).

The Last Tsar: Blood and Revolution. Science Museum, London, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (organizer) (September 20, 2018-March 24, 2019).

Fabergé: Romance to Revolution. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (organizer) (November 20, 2021-May 8, 2022) https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/faberge.

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=Imperial Red Cross Easter Egg|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1963.673|author=Peter Carl Fabergé|year=1915|access-date=02 November 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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Imperial Red Cross Easter Egg

Imperial Red Cross Easter Egg

Peter Carl Fabergé

Henrik Wigström

House of Fabergé

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Peter Carl Fabergé

Henrik Wigström

House of Fabergé

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