The winter egg

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The winter egg
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Fabergé Eggs is a series of jewellery that was
created between 1885 and 1917 for the Russian
Imperial family and private buyers. The first egg
was ordered from Carl Fabergé in 1885 by
Alexander III as a gift to his wife Maria
Feodorovna in connection with their twentieth
wedding anniversary in November 1886. The Emperor
did not insist on a certain design of the future
jewellery masterpiece, Carl Fabergé and his
artisans were free to choose creative solutions
and material, but he had a requirement the egg
should contain a surprise. When the egg was
presented, the Empress was so impressed and
pleased that Alexander III had no choice but to
order another one from Carl Fabergé for Orthodox
Easter. Subsequently, Alexander III made an order
every year. After the death of Alexander III in
November 1894, this tradition was continued by
his son Nicholas II, who ordered an Easter gift
from Fabergé, not only to his mother, but also to
his wife Alexandra Feodorovna. In the period from
1885 to 1917, approximately fifty-six eggs were
produced for the Imperial family, of which only
forty-seven are now well recorded in various
private and institutional collections. Soon after
the revolution, the contents of the Romanov
palaces were confiscated by the Bolsheviks. Most
of the Fabergé eggs, along with masses of
Imperial gold, silver, jewels and icons were
inventoried, packed in crates and taken to the
Kremlin Armory. Later, Stalin began trading the
Russian Imperial legacy for desperately needed
Western currency to support his new regime and
now only ten remain in the Kremlin
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The genius behind a pair of the most celebrated
Imperial Easter eggs was Alma Theresia Pihl
(1888-1976), one of two women who worked as
designers at the House of Fabergé at the
beginning of the 20th century. She came from a
long line of celebrated artisans employed by
Fabergé her grandfather was head jeweler and her
uncle a renowned goldsmith. She was the niece of
the other female designer, Hilma Alina Holmström
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The Winter Egg, Fabergé Work master Albert
Holmstrom, Designer Alma Pihl 1913 Rock crystal,
gold, platinum, chrysolite, diamonds. St
Petersburg, 1913 Given by Emperor Nicholas II to
his mother Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna for
Easter 1913
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The egg is 102 mm (4.0 in) high
In 2001, the Imperial Winter Egg was sold for a
record price (9,600,000) at the Christie's
auction in New York. This is the most original of
the surviving Easter eggs holding a surprise made
by the firm of Carl Fabergé. It is now in the
private collection of the Emir of Qatar
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The exterior of the egg resembles frost and ice
crystals formed on clear glass. It is studded
with 1,660 diamonds, and is made from quartz,
platinum, and orthoclase Enclosing at the top a
cabochon moonstone painted on the reverse with
the date 1913
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The thinly carved transparent body of the egg
finely engraved on the interior to simulate ice
crystals, the outside further engraved and
applied with rose-diamond set platinum motif
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The egg rests on a block of rock crystal carved
to look like melting ice with "rivulets' of
diamonds.
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The surprise is a platinum double-handled trellis
work basket, set with rose-diamonds and full of
wood anemones, suspended from a platinum hook,
each flower realistically carved from a single
piece of white quartz with gold wire stem and
stamens, the center set with a demantoid garnet,
some carved half open or in a bud, the leaves
delicately carved in nephrite, emerging from a
bed of gold moss, the base of the basket engraved
in Roman letters "Fabergé 1913".
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The miniature surprise flower basket is studded
with 1,378 diamonds and is made from platinum and
gold, while the wood anemones are made of white
quartz. The flowers lie in gold moss.
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Alma Theresia Pihl, the designer of the Winter
Egg, broke away from the conventional elements to
produce a magical work of original creative genius
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The following year, Alma designed the exquisite
Mosaic Egg which given to the Tsarina Alexandra.
Her mother-in-law's tapestry was the inspiration
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The Mosaic Egg was a technically challenging
project for the master jewelers, led by Albert
Holstrom, Alma's uncle. Precious metals such as
yellow gold and platinum were used. The pavé set
gemstones varied given the colors needed for the
petit point look of the design. These included
diamonds, rubies, emerald, topaz, half pearls,
moonstone as well as enamel.
Gold, platinum, enamel, rose and brilliant
diamonds, rubies, emeralds, topaz, quartz,
sapphires, garnets, moonstone 9.5 x 7.0 cm
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This beautiful Easter Egg consists of a system of
yellow gold belts, to which is applied a platinum
network partially pavé-set with diamonds and
coloured gems, including sapphires, emeralds,
rubies, topaz, quartz and green garnets in flower
patterns. This technique gives the look of petit
point tapestry work, partly completed. It is
divided into five oval panels set with
half-pearls within lines of opaque white enamel.
Five brilliant diamonds are set at each
intersection.
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Crafted mainly of platinum, each setting for the
stones was painstaking cut out of a platinum
sheet by hand to form a mesh. Then, stones were
polished and calibrated to fit each individual
spot in the egg
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The artisans cut each of the square holes by hand
and each gemstone had to be calibré-cut in such a
way that it would perfectly fit into its
designated space of approximately 1mm x 1mm
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The top of the egg is capped with a cabochon
moonstone as the finial, underneath is the
monogram of the Tsarina.
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The surprise concealed inside and held in place
by two gold clips, consists of a jeweled and
enameled miniature frame painted with the
profiles of the five Imperial children,
surmounted by an Imperial crown set with rose
diamonds. The reverse is enameled with a pale
sepia basket of flowers around which the year
1914 and the names of the five children. The oval
base with vase-shaped white enamel stem is set
with rose-cut diamonds, emeralds, and two
suspended pearls. The Egg is engraved with
Fabergé's name in Cyrillic characters
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During the dark days following the bloody
revolution, the egg would be confiscated by the
provisional government. In order to raise fund,
the egg would be sold by the Antikvariat in 1933
for 5,000 Roubles. The same year, the egg would
find a new home on May 22. It was purchased by
King George V from Cameo Corner for 250 (about
16,500 today,) or half cost as noted in the
ledger. King George likely purchased the egg for
Queen Marys birthday on May 26. The egg
currently resides in the Royal Collection Trust
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The Nobel Ice Egg, sometimes also referred to as
the Snowflake egg, is a jewelled enamelled
Fabergé Easter egg made under the supervision of
the Russian jeweler Peter Carl Fabergé, for the
Swedish-Russian oil baron and industrialist
Emanuel Nobel between 1913 and 1914.
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Alma Theresia Pihl-Klee (1888 - 1976)
Ccommissioned by Emanuel Nobel, the Nobel Ice Egg
was created in platinum, silver and seed-pearls.
It not only stems from the same inspiration as
The 1913 Winter Egg, but also shares the same
technique in the execution of the hinges within
graduated borders
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The Nobel Ice Egg was designed by Alma Theresia
Pihl
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Like the Winter Egg and the Mosaic Egg, the Nobel
Ice Egg was designed by Alma Theresia Pihl. The
tragic events of 1917 forced the artist to stop
her work and put an end to her brilliant career.
The firm of Fabergé and the company where his
husband worked, closed their St. Petersburg
offices. Most of the workers immediately moved to
Finland, but Alma's husband wanted to stay in
Russia to look after his property. Subsequently,
this decision has repeatedly turned into trouble,
i.e. up to serious threats to the life of
Nikolai. In an effort to escape from the
devastation, hoping to return at least some part
of the former quiet life, in the summer of 1921,
with the support of Maxim Gorky, Nikolai's
regular client, the families of Klee and
Holmström managed to get permission to leave
Petrograd and move to their native Finland, which
by that time has ceased to be a part of the
Russian Empire.
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Twenty-four years she taught fine arts, but none
of the wards knew about her past. Until the end
of her life, she remained modest and quiet woman
for the villagers. No one knew that she was one
of the best goldsmiths of her time in her former
life and worked for the world famous Carl
Fabergé, and she managed to design about two
thousand precious products in her short
career. In 1948, together with her husband, Alma
moved to Helsinki. The only person, to whom the
former designer a few years before her death
revealed the truth about herself, was her beloved
niece Lydia. Alma Theresa Pihl left this world on
July 11, 1976 at the age of 87.
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Today, jewelry masterpieces created according to
the sketches of Alma Pihl are estimated at
millions of euros and occasionally appear at the
world's leading auctions. Sketches in Alma's
albums dedicated to the Winter Series and now
owned by the company of Wartski give an idea of
how great was the power of her talent.
Snowflake pendant 60,000 GPB
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Faberge snowflake design by Alma Pihl Palais
Royal Hong Kong
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A rock crystal Red Cross ice pendant, designed
by Alma Pihl and made by workmaster Albert
Holmström, fetched a mid-estimate CHF50,400
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A Fabergé platinum, gold and diamond brooch,
workmaster Albert Holmström, designed by Alma Pihl
Fabergé, a jewelled platinum and rock-crystal
pendant, design Alma Pihl Sold 187,800
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A Fabergé snowflake pendant with red cross,
designed by Alma Pihl
A Fabergé platinum, rock crystal and diamond ice
crystal pendant designed by Alma Pihl
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1912 Melting Ice Pendant Design Alma Pihl,
Workshop Albert Holmström Provenance the Nobel
Family
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A Fabergé platinum, gold and diamond brooch,
workmaster Albert Holmström, designed by Alma
Pihl (55,000 )
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Snowflake brooch Sold 40,700
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Mosaic Brooch, ca. 1913 Christies London,
November 29, 2021 (Sold 412, 000 euros)
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Text Pictures Internet All copyrights belong
to their respective owners Presentation Sanda
Foisoreanu
2023
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