"A library book, I imagine, is a happy book." Cornelia Funke

"Everything puts me in mind of a story." Ben Franklin

Monday, February 28, 2011

The Faberge Eggs of Imperial Russia

My very favorite: The Lilies of the Valley Egg
Faberge Eggs Imperial Russian Fantasies Poster BookFaberge Eggs Imperial Russian Fantasies Poster Book by Christopher Forbes, 1980.

This book provides color posters of the eggs, including those given by Czar Alexander III (to his wife Maria), Czar Nicholas II, Alexander Ferdinandovich Kelch (to his wife Barbara Bazonov) and more. Only about ten are the eggs presented by Czar Nicholas II, but there is a black and white sketched catalogue of those eggs at the book's end. One of my favorite of the color eggs is the Orange Tree Egg, gifted from Nicholas to his mother Maria in 1911:

Orange Tree Egg
The little nightingale on top sings and dances on its perch!


Faberge's Eggs: The Extraordinary Story of the Masterpieces That Outlived an Empire Faberge's Eggs: The Extraordinary Story of the Masterpieces That Outlived an Empire by Toby Faber, 2008.

According to my reading, every Easter Czar Nicholas II presented Faberge eggs to his wife Alexandra and his mother Maria. This made 53 eggs total.

An excellent website on Faberge eggs is Mieks Faberge Eggs

More to come...

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