NEW YORK.-  Sotheby’s announced today that it would sell nine magnificent Fabergé Imperial Easter Eggs from the world-renowned Forbes Collection, the largest private collection of the fabled Fabergé Imperial Easter Eggs in the world and one of the largest collections in existence,  the others residing in the Armory Museum in the Kremlin and the collection of Queen Elizabeth II. So exquisite and desirable are Fabergé Imperial Easter Eggs that they are the standard metaphor for all treasures of the utmost rarity and value. They were first commissioned from the House of Fabergé  by Tsar Alexander III in 1885 as Easter gifts for his wife, the Tsarina Maria Feodorovna. His son and successor, Tsar Nicholas II, later commissioned treasures for his own wife Alexandra and for his mother, the Dowager Empress, continuing an Imperial Easter tradition which endured for over thirty years. The Fabergé Imperial Easter Eggs as well as over 180 other dazzling Fabergé creations will be offered at auction at Sotheby’s in New York on April 20 and 21, 2004 and together are estimated in excess of $90 million. The presale exhibition will open on April 12th, Easter Monday, and extend through the morning of April 20th. There will be a press preview prior to the opening of the exhibition.

In announcing the auction, the Forbes family stated: "The Fabergé Collection was one of the great passions of our father’s life. The acquisitions, the auctions and its assembly were extraordinary adventures for all of us.

"For the past fourteen years, since his death, we have continued to share this wonderful Collection with the public in the Forbes Galleries and in shows around the world. As our father said in his book, More Than I Dreamed: A Lifetime of Collecting, ’I’ve often told my children I hope that, if they decide to be done with one of the collections, they will put it back on the auction block so that other people can have the same vast fun and excitement that we did in amassing it.’ The family has now decided it is time for us to make this unique treasure trove available to other collectors so they may have the thrill of owning a rare and exquisite work of Fabergé. Also, the sale will allow each of us to pursue our own individual interests, something our family has always valued."

It was with the purchase of a gold cigarette case in 1960 that Malcolm Forbes, publisher of Forbes Magazine, began his lifelong pursuit of magnificent Fabergé objects. Five years later, at Sotheby’s, then known as Parke-Bernet in New York, Mr. Forbes acquired The Duchess of Marlborough Egg, the only Fabergé Egg made for an American and twenty years later, he bought an Imperial egg, the Cuckoo Egg, at a memorable Sotheby’s sale. "Sotheby’s has been associated with this magnificent collection for almost forty years and offering it at auction is a great honor for our firm," said Bill Ruprecht, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sotheby’s Holdings, Inc. "Without question, this Collection is among the most beautiful ever assembled and is a great testament both to the extraordinary artistry of Fabergé and to the brilliant eye of Malcolm Forbes." (Pictured right: The Cuckoo (Cockerel) Egg, 1900, est. $5/7 million).

Imperial Fabergé

There is perhaps no more famous collaboration in modern times between royal patron and master craftsman than that between the Romanov dynasty and the workshop of Peter Carl Fabergé. "Prized for the extraordinary beauty of their imaginative design and the flawless craftsmanship of their enameling and goldwork, The Imperial Easter Eggs created by Fabergé represent a high watermark of human creativity," said David Redden, Vice Chairman of Sotheby’s. "Together with the more than 180 other objects of exquisite beauty and delicacy from the Forbes Collection, they suggest a virtual Aladdin’s Cave of treasures."

Long recognized as representing the pinnacle in imaginative artistry and meticulous workmanship, the House of Fabergé received its first commission of an egg for Easter 1885, the year the House was confirmed as "Supplier to The Imperial Court." From thereon, it produced yearly eggs for the Romanovs as an Easter tradition right up until the final days of Imperial Russia. Fifty Imperial Eggs were produced during this period, most of which are in public collections, with four in anonymous private collections and eight unaccounted for (see p. 7). Beyond this, the House of Fabergé created items commissioned by members of the Russian nobility and other foreign patrons. Fabergé also created an entire array of objets de luxe for the Imperial family, including accessories such as cigarette cases, photograph frames and precious stone carvings. The Forbes Collection includes extraordinary examples of these works as well.

Imperial Fabergé Easter Eggs

In Imperial Russia, Easter was the most important holiday on the Orthodox calendar and exchanging gaily decorated eggs was an established tradition. It is not surprising, therefore, that the Tsar would commission the House of Fabergé, which, by the 1880s had an established reputation for exquisite artistry. "The Imperial Easter Eggs are Fabergé’s acknowledged masterpieces, reflecting the wealth and splendor of the Imperial Court and the epoch which closed with The Great War," said Gerard Hill, expert in Fabergé at Sotheby’s and author of Fabergé and the Russian Master Goldsmiths.

The very first Imperial Egg, the Hen Egg, (pictured above and right) which Peter Carl Fabergé made for the Romanov Imperial family came as the result of a commission from Tsar Alexander III in 1885 for an egg to present to his wife Tsarina Maria Feodorovna on Easter. With the size and plain matte white-colored enameling expertly mimicking a real egg, a band of gold around the center twists open to reveal a gold yolk holding a  varicolored gold hen (est. $3/4 million). Such a "surprise" was believed to be present in most, if not all, of the Imperial eggs. Some of these have been preserved, some have since been lost to history.

The last Easter egg commissioned by Tsar Alexander III for Maria Feodorovna was the Renaissance Egg, made for presentation in 1894, which consists of an egg-shaped box carved from white agate and mounted with a trelliswork of gold and jewels (est. $5/7 million). His death eight months later would have made this gift even more meaningful to the Tsarina (pictured p.6).

After Tsar Nicholas II acceded to the throne, the first egg he commissioned for his wife Tsarina Alexandra was the Rosebud Egg, presented in 1895 (pictured left). Made of red guilloché enamel mounted with gold and gems, the egg opens to reveal a removable yellow enamel rosebud (est. $3/4 million).

After Nicholas II was crowned in Moscow at the age of 28 as the leader of an Empire that covered one sixth of the earth’s surface, he commissioned one of the most spectacular objects ever made by Fabergé -- the extraordinary Coronation Egg -- to present to his Tsarina on Easter in 1897 (pictured on p.1). Created of gold-colored guilloché enamel mounted with a trelliswork of diamond-set Imperial eagles, the egg opens to reveal a velvet-lined compartment containing a replica of the coach in which Alexandra made her grand entry into Moscow (est. $18/24 million). It took workmaster George Stein fifteen months, working sixteen hours a day, to complete this gold, enamel, diamond, and rock crystal fantasy, which is faithful to the original coach in every detail.

The Lilies of the Valley Egg (pictured right, detail pictured on page 7), presented to Tsarina Alexandra at Easter in 1898, is a stunning salmon-pink enamel egg studded with pearl and diamond-set lily of the valley blossoms. By pressing a pearl knob on the side, the Tsarina could trigger a mechanism which raised exquisitely-painted miniatures of her husband, the Tsar, and their two eldest daughters, Olga and Tatiana (est. $12/18 million).

On the fifteenth anniversary of their coronation, in 1911, Tsarina Alexandra received the Fifteenth Anniversary Egg, a tour-de-force of Fabergé’s art which displays 16 exquisitely-painted miniatures, both portraits and depictions of historical events detailing the achievements of Nicholas’s reign (pictured left, detail pictured below). The design of the egg is striking: the miniatures sit on a background of lustrous white enamel divided into panels by deep-green enamel laurel leaves; the portraits themselves are surrounded by diamonds (est. $10/15million).

Nicholas II also continued to bestow these precious objects on his mother, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, and the Collection includes three eggs commissioned by him from Fabergé for her. The Cuckoo (Cockerel) Egg (pictured on p. 2), presented in 1900 and acquired by Malcolm Forbes at Sotheby’s in 1985, was formed as an ornate table clock in the Baroque style and enameled in a warm violet over a guilloché zigzag ground. When a button at the  top of the egg is pressed, the circular pierced gold grille opens and a naturally plumed cuckoo emerges, crowing and flapping its wings. (est. $5/7 million)

In 1911, Nicholas II commissioned the Orange Tree (Bay Tree) Egg (pictured below left) for his mother, Maria Feodorovna. Shaped as a miniature topiary tree amongst whose nephrite leaves nestle amethyst, ruby and pink diamond "fruit," the tree has a  hidden button which, when triggered, reveals one of Fabergé’s most highly detailed creations. A portion of the foliage at the top of the tree rises and music fills the air as a feathered nightingale emerges warbling sweetly while moving its head, wings and beak. (est. $10/15 million).

The Order of St. George Egg (pictured top of p.6) of 1916 commemorates the 1915 presentation of the Order of St. George to Tsar Nicholas II for his leadership during the First World War. The shell of the white enamel egg is underpainted with green enameled garlanded trellis. (est. $4/6 million). Three years later, after the Dowager Empress had taken refuge in the Crimea with other members of the Romanov family, King George V of Great Britain directed the battleship H.M.S. Marlborough to carry Maria Feodorovna to safety in her native Denmark. She took the Order of St. George Egg with her and thus, it became the only Imperial Egg to leave Russia in the possession of its original recipient.

Other Fabergé Commissions

The public display of the Imperial Fabergé Eggs at various exhibitions beginning in the late 1880s assured Fabergé a worldwide reputation and a steady stream of commissions both from other courts of Europe and from wealthy industrialists the world over. One of the most notable was a series of seven eggs commissioned from the House of Fabergé by Alexander Kelch and his wife Barbara (née Bazanova). Presented in 1898, the Kelch Hen Egg is a more elaborate version of the first Imperial egg: the egg in translucent strawberry guilloché enamel opens to reveal a matte enameled yolk, which holds a naturalistically enameled hen, which itself conceals a folding gold easel and portrait miniature (est. $2/3 million). Also apparently made for Barbara Kelch is the Chanticleer Egg, from 1903, which is in a restrained French neoclassical style. The royal blue enamel egg, on a pedestal decorated with symbols of the Arts and Sciences, contains a clock. At the striking of the hour, a colorful cockerel emerges from the top of the egg, bobs its head, flaps its wings and crows the hour (est. $4/6 million).

The Spring Flowers Egg, commissioned for another client, is a red-enameled egg enclosed in a Rococo-style gold cage work and sitting on a bowenite pedestal which opens to reveal a basket of flowers carved from various hardstones (est. $700/900,000).

Objets de Luxe

There are approximately 180 other precious objects in the Forbes Collection of extraordinary beauty and delicacy that  illustrate the brilliant artistry of Fabergé. Among them is a miniature watering can carved from a single piece of nephrite, with handle and nozzle set with rose-cut diamond borders (est. $200/300,000), which accompanies a miniature basket of lilies of the valley, its four tiny sprays each topped with pearl flowers on a gold stem (est. $120/180,000). A menagerie of tiny creatures, such as a pink carnelian rabbit with diamond-set eyes, once owned by the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, sat contentedly upon a table or desk (est. $12 /18,000). A miniature Empire-style chair bonbonnière has a seat enameled a translucent lime-green over a repoussé ground chased with seahorses and sphinxes which slides forward to reveal a cache for bonbons (est. $800,000/1,200,000). (Pictured: The Renaissance Egg, 1894, est. $5/7 million).

An Imperial Presentation Tray, carved from a single piece of nephrite, whose varicolored gold handles include the diamond-set crowned monograms of Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna, was presented to the new Tsar and his wife by dignitaries from St. Petersburg on the occasion of their coronation in 1896 (est. $2/3 million). The Dancing Moujik (Peasant) is one of the human figures that are among the rarest in Fabergé’s oeuvre. Fewer than 70 were produced and they are coveted for their exquisite craftsmanship and scarcity. Hat askew, right foot and arm kicked forward, left hand swung backward, the moujik’s drunken jig is frozen mid-step in semiprecious stones, with personality, movement and texture revealed through the use of the chalcedony, purpurine, marble, jasper and quartz (est. $500/700,000). The Collection also includes more than 30 precious miniature Fabergé egg charms adorned with brilliant gems and enamels, some commemorating historic events, some inspired by whimsical subjects, all with the same attention to detail as their imperial counterparts. Estimates range from $1,000/1,500 to $30/40,000 each.? (Pictured: Detail of the Lilies of the Valley Egg, 1898, est. $12/18 million).

Location of the Fifty Imperial Eggs
Moscow Kremlin Collection (10)
The Forbes Collection (9)
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (5)
Anonymous Private Collections (4)
The Royal Collection, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (3)
New Orleans Museum of Art (3)
Edouard and Maurice Sandoz Foundation, Switzerland (2)
The Hillwood Museum, Washington, D.C. (2)
The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland (2)
Prince Rainier III of Monaco Collection (1)
The Cleveland Museum of Art (1)
Unaccounted for (8)

Sotheby’s Catalogue

The 2-volume catalogue will be available in mid-March and can be pre-ordered beginning today at either www.sothebys.com or by telephone at the following numbers: United States: 1 (888) 752 0002 (toll free); United Kingdom: 0207 293 6444; all other countries: 1 (541) 322 4151.

* This release includes information as well as descriptive passages from Fabergé, The Forbes Collection, published by Forbes Inc. in 1999.

Diana Phillips
Matthew Weigman
Patty Fox
Lauren Gioia
(212) 606-7176
fax: (212) 606-7381
  


 
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