This beautiful egg pendant is a perfect representation of spring. The egg is 14k gold and covered in a guilloche enamel, which is a lovely soft green color that is opaque enough that the gold underneath it shines through with mesmerizing patterns. The gold is subtly textured, giving the egg a pearly illusion reminiscent of fish scales or running water. On one side of the egg, a diamond and two rubies are delicately placed inside Lily of the Valley flowers. The egg, the flowers, and the beautiful green are all evocative of spring and the promise of rebirth that comes along with it. The bail is marked with the Russian symbol for 14k and an unidentified maker’s mark.
Circa Pre-Revolutionary Russia, this egg follows in the tradition of the Fabergé eggs that were commissioned each Easter by the Russian Tsar Alexander III and his son Nicholas II as gifts for their wives and mothers. From 1885-1917, the House of Fabergé, run by Peter Carl Fabergé, would create an ornate Easter egg at the request of the royal family. Fabergé was instructed to design anything he wanted—his one requirement was that each egg must contain a secret. Fabergé’s famous eggs would open to reveal elaborate surprises, such as a miniature gold replica of the Gatchina Palace; a route map of the Trans-Siberian Railway; and a tiny flower basket studded with 1,378 diamonds. These lovely Russian gold enamel eggs have become a symbol of this tradition and Imperial Russia.
The egg weighs 4.34 grams. It measures 1/2” by 3/8”, not including the bail. The bail measures 5.2 x 6.6 mm. The 14k gold chain is 18" and has a slide clasp that allows it to be adjusted to any desired length.
