The Fabergé Winter Egg adorned with more than 4000 diamonds | Christie's

This is the Winter Egg, one of the most spectacular imperial easter eggs ever created by the House of Fabergé. Crafted from rock crystal and set with 4,508 diamonds, this opulent egg captures the ethereal beauty of a frozen winter. Imperial Russia was a land of glittering palaces and immense opulence. The imperial Romanov family lived amidst extraordinary wealth and grandeur. Yet, their lives were guided by a deep-rooted tradition and devout Orthodox faith. The tradition of imperial easter eggs began in 1885, when Emperor Alexander III commissioned Fabergé to create a jewelled egg as a gift for his wife. Under Nicholas II, this was expanded to two eggs each year for both his mother and his wife. In 1913, Emperor Nicholas II commissioned Fabergé to produce the Winter Egg as an easter gift for his mother, Dowager Empress Maria Fedorovna, at an extraordinary cost of 24,600 rubles. It was the third most expensive item ever produced by Fabergé. Fabergé's chief jeweller, Albert Holmström, enlisted the help of Alma Pill, one of the few female designers at the House. Exceptionally talented and mostly self-taught, Alma Pill was only in her early 20s when she started working at Fabergé. The snowflake design emerged when Alma, seeking inspiration, gazed out of her frost-covered workshop window and marvelled at the delicate ice crystals forming like a garden of exquisite frozen flowers. The egg sits on a rock crystal base formed as a block of melting ice, its surface etched with snowflake motifs and applied with intricate platinum mounts set with rose-cut diamonds. Inside, as required of all Fabergé eggs, lies a surprise. A delicate basket of spring flowers, made from platinum and gold, is adorned with 1,378 diamonds. In the wake of the 1917 revolution, the Imperial Roman of Jewels were seized and selected for sale, including the precious Fabergé Easter Eggs. The Winter Egg, hailed as possibly the finest of them all, was sold in the early 1930s. A masterpiece of technical skill and artistic beauty, the Winter Egg is rich in Easter symbolism. It represents resurrection and renewal, capturing the shift from winter stillness to the vibrant promise of spring.