Fabergé, Imperial Red Cross Easter Egg with Portraits decorated with a red plique-à-jour firebird, 1915, workmaster Henrik Wigström, miniatures signed Vasilii Zuev. Bequest of Lillian Thomas Pratt, 47.20.36
- Type: Artist Video
- Collection: Decorative Arts, European Art, Faberge
- Culture/Region: Europe
- Subject Area: Visual Arts
- Grade Level: k-12, college, adult
The Imperial Red Cross Easter Egg, given to Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna by her son Nicholas II, was a tribute to her service as president of the Russian Red Cross. The shell contains a removable folding frame with miniature portraits of the young empress, her two eldest daughters, Olga and Tatiana, and two close female relatives all dressed as Sisters of Mercy. The silver shell has five bands of guilloché, each with a different pattern. The surface is covered in smoothly polished translucent enamel decorated with two small brilliant-red crosses. The engraving beneath the enamel catches and reflects the light at different angles producing a lively effect