A VERY SPECIAL EASTER EGG FROM THE BALTICS
It’s relatively recently that the Easter message has been given a chocolate lining since the history of giving eggs pre-dates Christianity and can be traced back folk traditions in Europe and Russia.
Easter comes near the time of the spring Equinox on 21st March – and in ancient cultures this was celebrated as re-birth and renewal after the long winter months.
The tradition of the egg as symbol of re-birth has always been popular since the middle ages – when eggs were brightly painted and given as gifts in Christianity symbolising Christ’s blood. In 1307, Edward I’s court records an entry ‘18 pence for 450 eggs to be boiled and dyed or covered with gold leaf and distributed to the Royal Household’.
The chocolate egg tradition started in the early 19th century in France and Germany. John Cadbury made his first eating chocolate in 1842 – but it was not until 1875 that the first Cadbury Easter Eggs were made.
In Russia in 1883, Carl Fabergé (1846-1920) was commissioned by Tsar Alexander to make the first of the Imperial Russian Easter eggs for the Empress Marie of Russia. These would then immortalize the last decades of the Russian monarchy up until the Revolution in 1917.
The Easter egg shown is entered into our Silver and Jewellery Sale on Tuesday 5th July. It is silver gilt and cloisonné enamel and possibly made by Nicholai Zugeryev in Moscow between 1908-1917, and decorated in polychrome enamels with foliage and geometric borders. The pull-off cover is inset with a garnet, the base with Cyrillic initials, on a three footed dolphin stand.
A mere drop in the Baltic for a Tsarina at £1000-1500 rather than a Fabergé egg which may cost a little more….!
Still the egg is nearly the same size as a Cadbury’s Cream Egg - How do you eat yours?
Happy Easter from all of us at Sworders Fine Art Auctioneers
Entered into Sworders Fine Art Auctioneers Silver and Jewellery Sale on Tuesday 5th July 2016
Entries for this sale close on Friday 6 May 2016
For further enquires please contact:
Silver Anita Anderson anitaanderson@sworder.co.uk
Jewellery Catriona Smith jewellery@sworder.co.uk
