Product Description
The height of the Easter egg is h=16cm, when opened, h=20.5 cm (the height of the original is 15cm, when opened, 19cm). The Easter egg "Lilies of the Valley" is a copy of the jewelry egg, one of the fifty-two imperial Easter eggs made by the company of Karl Faberge for the Russian imperial family. The jewelry egg was made as an Easter gift to the last Russian Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, the wife of Nicholas II in 1898.
The Easter egg is made in the Art Nouveau style, covered with translucent enamel on a guilloched surface, located on a stand with four legs, decorated with lilies of the valley-the favorite flowers of the young Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (symbolizing purity, youth and innocence), made of green enamel and artificial pearls. The egg shell is decorated with stripes of crystals, on the petals of lilies of the valley, like dew, crystals also shimmer.
In the original product, when you click on the side pearls, three medallions are pushed out of the upper part. In which there are portraits of the three people most dear to Alexandra Feodorovna: on the upper medallion, Nicholas II is depicted in military uniform. On the left medallion is a portrait of Grand Duchess Olga, on the right — Tatiana. The medallions are painted in watercolour on ivory plates by the Danish miniaturist Johann Zeingraf. The top medallion is crowned with a crown.
However, the Art Nouveau style was not typical for the jewelers of the St. Petersburg school, who were accustomed to the classics and rigor, who worked in the famous Faberge company. At the World's Fair of 1900 in Paris, against the background of free, non-restrictive art Nouveau, the jewelry egg "Lilies of the Valley" looked very strict - the twigs are too close to the egg, the legs are not three, but four, and without an abundance of curls.
Despite this, all the works of the Faberge company were highly appreciated, and Faberge himself was awarded a commemorative medal.