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Case 10: The Imperial Easter Eggs: Hatching World Fame:
The imperial Pelican Easter Egg combines historic design sources with a contemporary appeal to charity and good works aimed at the Russian gentry, who provided much of Faberge's customer base.
Uniquely positioned to establish the firm on a world stage, Faberge was trained as a goldsmith in Dresden and Frankfurt, but also held a business degree. In 1872, he took over the house founded by his father. Carl served the last three Russian imperial courts, ruled by czars Alexander II (reigned 1855-1881), Alexander III (reigned 1881-1894), and Nicholas II (reigned 1896-1917). Their extravagant regimes ensured a continuing demand for luxurious objects such as the jeweled frame shown here.
In 1885, the firm began creating an annual Easter egg for Czar Alexander III to present to his czarina amid great public fanfare. While the first imperial Easter egg closely followed European precedents for suitable Easter gifts, the eggs soon took on tropical significance, for variety in the face of such a well-established tradition was no easy task. Demands on the firm's ingenuity doubled after the coronation of Nicholas II in 1896, when imperial Easter gifts were commissioned for both his wife, Czar Alexandra, and his mother, Dowager Empress Maria. Eventually, fifty imperial Easter eggs were made. Additionally, equally grand Easter eggs were created for other wealthy clients.
Gradually the everyday lives and accomplishments of the Romanovs began to furnish themes for the individual Easter gifts. Many of the surviving imperial eggs -- including the Czarevich Eggs and the Red Cross Egg -- contain family portraits. Others, including the Pelican Egg and the Rock Crystal Egg, featured royal residences and official buildings. At times, miniature paintings of buildings embellish an egg's shell, as does the image of the Winter Palace on the Peter the Great Egg.
Royal patronage spread Faberge's fame, as did the firm's regular participation in heavily attended international exhibitions during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Pelican Egg and the Rock Crystal Egg were among those shown to the public in 1902 at a special charity exhibition sponsored by Alexandra Feodorovna in St. Petersburg.
The Pelican Egg: Saleable Symbolism:
Perched majestically upon its original stand, which adapts forms from Roman furniture, the Pelican Egg is a visual allegory. The pelican nesting on the top is an ancient symbol of self-sacrifice. Raising her diamond-studded wings, the mother pelican protects her little nestlings. As they clamor for food, she plucks at her own breast to feed them. Near the top of the shell, an engraving repeats the motif.
The little nestlings seen here symbolize daughters of the aristocracy. Dates engraved on the shell celebrate the centenary of the "Society for Bringing Up the Young Ladies of Noble Families." The entire egg unfolds in vertical slices to become a screen of golden oval frames trimmed with seed pearls. The frames hold a series of eight miniatures on every, each one showing a building that once housed some kind of educational institution for women of privilege. Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna (who received the Pelican Egg in 1898) was patroness of all these institutions. Mr. and Mrs. Pratt, who owned this egg by the spring of 1938, also were noted philanthropists with a special interest in educational institutions. |