A rare crystal and diamond egg made by Fabergé for the Russian Imperial Family It sold for £22.9 million (more than $30 million), setting a new record on the art market. The piece known as ““winter egg”It was sold at auction on Tuesday in London.
Company Christy He explained that it was One of seven Fabergé Imperial Eggs still in private hands And comparing it, due to its status and uniqueness, to the “Mona Lisa.”
Made in 1913 The egg is 10cm high and is made of finely carved rock crystalDecorated with a platinum snowflake pattern and studded with approximately 4,500 small diamonds.
Inside is a removable basket with quartz flowers and gemstones symbolizing the arrival of spring.A distinctive feature of these creations is that they always hide a surprise.
The price far exceeded the US$18.5 million paid in 2007, Also at Christie’s for another egg designed for the Rothschild family. For specialists, the amount confirms the exceptional status of these pieces created by Peter Carl Fabergé and his workshop between 1885 and 1917, a period in which more than fifty Imperial eggs were manufactured, each with a unique design. The tradition began during the reign of Tsar Alexander III and continued with his successor Nicholas II, who often gave it to his wife and mother at Easter.
In the case of the Winter Egg, it was ordered by Nicholas II in 1913 as a gift for his mother, Empress Dowager Maria Feodorovna. It was one of two eggs designed by Alma Biehl, a young jeweler from the Fabergé workshop whose other works of this type are today part of the British Royal Family’s collection.
This piece survived the fall of the Romanov dynasty, which ruled Russia for three centuries until the 1917 Revolution. Nicholas II and his family were executed the following year, 1918.
After the revolution, The egg was purchased for only 450 pounds (about $600) by a dealer in London in the 1920s, when the Soviet government began giving away valuables.
From there it passed through several private collections, and for decades was thought lost. Until it reappeared at Christie’s auction in 1994, where it was sold for more than seven million Swiss francs. (about US$5.6 million at the time). It was sold again in 2002 for $9.6 million.
Christie remembered that every time this egg was put on the market He set a new record for a Fabergé piece, confirming its historical and artistic importance. According to the auction house. 43 imperial eggs have been preserved -Most of them are in museums-, which enhances the scarcity of the few specimens that are still widespread.
With information from the Associated Press