A jewel-studded gift, originally for the mother of Russia’s last emperor, has sold for a record £22.9m at auction in London.
The exquisite Winter Egg, commissioned in 1913 by Emperor Nicholas II for Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, is widely hailed as one of Faberge’s most lavish imperial creations.
The egg is finely carved from rock crystal, featuring an intricate engraved frost design on its interior.
The four-inch (10cm) tall egg is made from finely carved rock crystal, covered in a delicate snowflake motif wrought in platinum and 4,500 tiny diamonds.
Christie’s confirmed the sale on Tuesday for £22,895,000, a figure that dramatically shattered the previous world auction record for a Faberge work by over £13m.
That significant record was established in 2007 when the Rothschild Egg fetched £8.9m. Christie’s noted this marks the third time the Winter Egg has set a record price for a Faberge piece.
Margo Oganesian, Christie’s head of department for Faberge and Russian works of art, said: “Christie’s is honoured to have been entrusted with the sale of the exquisite Winter Egg by Faberge for the third time in our history.
“Today’s result sets a new world auction record for a work by Faberge, reaffirming the enduring significance of this masterpiece and celebrating the rarity and brilliance of what is widely regarded as one of Faberge’s finest creations, both technically and artistically.
“With only a handful of imperial Easter eggs remaining in private hands, this was an exceptional and historic opportunity for collectors to acquire a work of unparalleled importance.”
After the Russian Revolution in 1917, it was transferred from St Petersburg to the Kremlin Armoury in Moscow along with many other valuable possessions of the royal family.
In the 1920s the Soviet government began selling off art treasures from the Hermitage Museum and other collections, often for only a fraction of their value.
The Winter Egg was acquired by antiques dealer Wartski of London for £450, then sold to a British collector in 1934 for £1,500, before later being sold on to another.
It was believed lost for two decades from 1975 until 1994, when it was sold at Christie’s for a world record 7,263,500 Swiss francs (£6.8 million).
In 2002 it was again sold by Christie’s for another world record of $9,579,000 (£7.1 million).
