The Pansy Egg, 1899 — Fabergé in Nephrite and Enamel
The Pansy Egg, 1899 — Fabergé in Nephrite and Enamel
An Imperial Easter egg with a surprise of eleven enamelled pansies
The Pansy Egg is one of the Imperial Easter eggs commissioned by Tsar Nicholas II from the Fabergé workshop and presented at Easter 1899 to his mother, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. Carved from a single piece of nephrite jade and mounted in gold, the egg holds within it a small jewelled tableau of eleven enamelled pansies on gold stems rising from a chased gold basket. Each pansy is set with a small diamond at its centre, and the petals are rendered in translucent enamel over guilloché grounds in pale yellow, mauve, and green. The Pansy Egg sits within the broader series of fifty Imperial eggs and exemplifies the Fabergé workshop's combination of hardstone carving, enamel work, and miniature goldsmithing.
Workshop and attribution
The egg is the work of Mikhail Perkhin, the head workmaster at Fabergé from 1886 until his death in 1903 and the maker of most of the Imperial eggs presented during that period. Perkhin's workshop, in St Petersburg, was the source of the most ambitious Fabergé pieces of the late nineteenth century, and the Pansy Egg's combination of nephrite carving and miniature enamelled flowers reflects the workshop's mature technical capability.
The nephrite shell is carved as a complete egg form with hinged opening, mounted in narrow gold rims at the seam and with applied gold ribbon, swag, and rosette decoration around the body. The hinge concealed within the mount allows the egg to open and reveal the surprise inside.
The surprise
The interior surprise consists of a small chased gold basket from which the eleven enamelled pansies rise on gold stems. Each pansy is rendered in translucent enamel over guilloché grounds, with a small diamond at the centre of the bloom and gold leaves flanking the stems. The arrangement is freely composed rather than rigid, with stems of varying length and pansies turned at slightly different angles, giving the effect of a small bouquet recovered from a garden in spring. The pansy was a favoured flower in the imperial family iconography of the period and appears in other Fabergé pieces of the era.
Provenance and current location
The Pansy Egg remained in the Russian imperial collection until the revolution and was subsequently dispersed. It is now held in a private collection. Photographic and catalogue documentation is good, and the egg has been included in major Fabergé exhibitions over the past several decades. Authentication is supported by Fabergé workshop marks, period documentation, and the consistent stylistic features of Perkhin's work.
Place in the series
Of the fifty Imperial Easter eggs commissioned between 1885 and 1916, forty-three are accounted for in public and private collections; seven remain lost. The Pansy Egg sits within the consistently documented group and is among the more modestly scaled of the Imperial eggs in terms of overall size, with the surprise providing the principal jewelled and enamelled interest. The egg's particular value lies in the unusual quality of the nephrite carving and in the freshness of the floral surprise.
In the trade
Imperial Fabergé eggs trade only rarely and at the very top of the auction market, with the most recent sales achieving prices in the tens of millions of dollars. The Pansy Egg has not, to date, been offered at public auction. Period Fabergé pieces of all kinds are subject to extensive forgery, and any acquisition requires expert authentication and detailed provenance research. For Skyjems clients with collecting interest in this category, we work with specialist consultants whose authentication credentials are accepted in the auction market.