EGGS A LA RUSSE

OF all the world's Easter gifts, few are as lavish as the bejeweled eggs passed out by Russia's rich and royal in the time of the czars. The smaller eggs--delicate trinkets of gold and enamel, flawless rose quartz, pearls and diamonds--were the gifts of Russia's wealthy classes; the largest and costliest eggs were reserved for the reigning Romanovs. Three handsome examples (opposite) are the gold and lapis lazuli egg, with a miniature portrait of Czarevitch Alexis, given by Nicholas II to his Czarina in 1912; the fabulous rock crystal egg (at top), which contains a revolving gallery of twelve gold-framed miniatures capped with a perfect, 27-karat Siberian emerald; and the engraved gold egg which opens to eight painted panels showing favorite imperial charities.

On display this week at Richmond's Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the eggs are the work of an intense, spade-bearded jeweler named Peter Carl Faberge (1846-1920). Starting out in his father's small shop in St. Petersburg as a young apprentice, Faberge became court jeweler to Alexander III and Nicholas II, and the most sought after goldsmith of his time. Russia's Easter eggs are his proudest creation. Faberge turned out his first as a surprise for Alexander III's Czarina. At a glance, it seemed to be a plain chicken egg of opaque white enamel. But inside, the Czarina found a glittering yolk of gold, and within the yolk a gold chicken. The chicken opened, too, and there the Czarina discovered an exact replica of the imperial crown, perfect to the last detail. Alexander was so pleased that he immediately gave a standing order for a surprise egg each Easter. When his son Nicholas II came to the throne, the order was doubled: one egg for the Czarina, one for the aging Dowager Empress. The results: some 55 exquisite imperial eggs--plus scores of lesser eggs and an array of magnificent necklaces, enameled clocks and jewel-studded cigarette cases that lifted the House of Faberge to the pinnacle of Europe's jewelry craft, and brought its master a reputation second only to that of Benvenuto Cellini.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.