The Nobel Ice Egg — A Non-Imperial Fabergé Egg in Rock Crystal
The Nobel Ice Egg — A Non-Imperial Fabergé Egg in Rock Crystal
A circa-1914 Fabergé egg made for the Nobel family in frosted rock crystal and platinum
The Nobel Ice Egg is a non-Imperial Fabergé egg created in approximately 1914 for the Nobel family — the Swedish industrialists who founded the Nobel Brothers Petroleum Company (Branobel) in Russia and whose Russian-born members were among the wealthiest figures in early-twentieth-century Russia. The egg is a hardstone-and-precious-metal masterwork in frosted rock crystal, set in platinum and accented with rose-cut diamonds, and is one of the most significant non-Imperial works to come from the workshops of Carl Fabergé. Unlike the famous fifty Imperial Easter Eggs commissioned by Tsars Alexander III and Nicholas II for the Romanov family, the Nobel Ice Egg was a private commission and remains in private hands today.
The Nobel family in Russia
Branobel was founded in 1879 by Ludvig and Robert Nobel — brothers of Alfred Nobel, the dynamite magnate and prize founder — and grew to become the dominant petroleum operation in late-imperial Russia, with extensive holdings in the Baku oil region of present-day Azerbaijan. The Russian Nobel family lived between Saint Petersburg and Baku, and were prominent figures in the late-imperial Russian commercial and social establishment. The family's enormous wealth made them natural patrons of the leading Saint Petersburg jewellers, including Fabergé, and they commissioned a number of significant pieces over the decades before the 1917 Revolution disrupted the Russian operations.
The egg itself
The Nobel Ice Egg is approximately twelve centimetres tall, formed from frosted rock crystal in the shape of an Easter egg, and is mounted in platinum settings with rose-cut diamond accents. The frosted finish on the rock crystal — achieved by acid etching or careful hand-stippling — gives the surface the appearance of frost on glass, suggesting ice rather than the polished transparency of crystal as found. This visual effect is the central aesthetic statement of the piece and gives the egg its descriptive name.
The interior of the egg contained, originally, a surprise — a Fabergé tradition for both Imperial and non-Imperial eggs. The Nobel Ice Egg's surprise was a small platinum and diamond pendant watch, the chronometer concealed inside the larger egg shell and revealed when the egg was opened along its concealed seam. The combination of mineralogical artistry (the rock crystal) with metalsmithing (the platinum mounts), gemology (the diamond accents), and horology (the concealed watch) is characteristic of Fabergé's most ambitious work.
Provenance
The egg's documented provenance traces from the Nobel family's possession in Russia, through their migration out of Russia following the 1917 Revolution and the nationalisation of Branobel, into private hands in Western Europe. The egg has appeared occasionally in scholarly Fabergé exhibitions and in the catalogues raisonnés of Fabergé scholars (Fabergé and Skurlov, von Habsburg, and others) but has not been on regular museum display. Its current location is reported to be private collection, with periodic appearances at Fabergé exhibitions and at major auction events.
Position in the Fabergé canon
Fabergé produced approximately fifty Imperial Easter Eggs between 1885 and 1916 for Alexander III and Nicholas II to give to the Empresses Maria Feodorovna and Alexandra Feodorovna; these are the most famous works of the firm and trade at extraordinary prices when they appear at auction. Beyond the Imperial Eggs, however, Fabergé made a smaller number of comparably elaborate eggs and decorative objects for private clients including the Yusupov, Rothschild, Kelch, and Nobel families. The Nobel Ice Egg sits within this rare category and is among the most significant private-commission Fabergé eggs known.
Comparable non-Imperial eggs include the Rothschild Egg (sold at Christie's in 2007 for over $18 million), the Kelch Hen Egg, and the Yusupov Egg. The Nobel Ice Egg ranks alongside these in scholarly importance, though its market history is sparser since it has remained in private hands rather than passing through the auction circuit in recent decades.
The frosted-crystal technique
The frosted rock crystal of the Nobel Ice Egg represents a particular technical achievement that Fabergé and his hardstone carvers (including the Saint Petersburg lapidary firm of Stern and others) developed to a high level. The challenge is producing an even, fine-grained frosted texture on a complex curved surface that suggests the crystallographic structure of frost rather than simply a sandblasted matte finish. The effect, when achieved, gives the egg its evocative cold appearance and connects it to the broader Fabergé tradition of using rock crystal to suggest ice, snow, and winter atmosphere — a tradition seen also in the Winter Egg of 1913, one of the most celebrated Imperial Easter Eggs.
In the trade
For collectors of Fabergé and Russian decorative arts, the Nobel Ice Egg is an object of significant scholarly interest but rarely available for purchase. The work is documented through Fabergé scholarly literature, exhibition catalogues, and occasional appearances in articles and surveys. Buyers seeking comparable works generally have to wait for the rare appearances of major non-Imperial eggs at auction, where pricing typically runs into the high seven and low eight figures.