Imperial Red Cross Easter Egg with Portraits (Primary Title)
Fabergé firm, Russian, 1842 - 1917 (Manufacturer)
Vasilii Zuiev, Russian, 1870 - after 1931 (Painter)
Henrik Wigström, Finnish, 1862 – 1923 (Workmaster)
The Imperial Red Cross Easter Egg was presented by Tsar Nicholas II to his mother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, in 1915 as a tribute to her service as head of the Russian Red Cross. This egg is decorated with five bands of white guilloché enamel, each with a different pattern. The central band has a gilded Old Slavonic inscription: Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends (Jn 15:13, AV).
miniatures signed Vasilii Zuiev
Initials of workmaster Henrik Wigström, assay mark of St. Petersburg 1908-17 Stamped "Fabergé 1915", stamped on interior of egg underneath the interior cardboard and velvet liner: Initials of workmaster Henrik Wigstron and "88" with the right -facing profile of a man.
Central band with gilt Slavonic inscription: "Great love hath no man than his, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13)"; top of the egg has the crown and Cyrillic monogram MF for Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna.
Bequest of Lillian Thomas Pratt
Exhibitions: Hammer Galleries catalogue 1937 (p. 6, no. 11); Hammer Galleries catalogue 1939; Richmond 1947, 1948, 1954, 1983; New York/San Francisco/Richmond/New Orleans/ Cleveland 1996/97 (cat. no. 153, pp. 124/5, 127, 164/5, ill. p. 164); Richmond/Detroit/Salem/Montreal/Las Vegas/Oklahoma City/Beijing 2012–2016 (no. 191, cat. pp. 286–289, ills. pp. 286–289).
(for the full citations, above, see "Bibliography-Taschen" in the Bibliography section of this TMS entry)
Fabergé Revealed, Palace Museum, Beijing, China, April 16 - July 17, 2016
Fabergé: Jeweler to the Tsars, Oklahoma City Museum of Art, June 20 – September 27, 2015
Fabergé Revealed, Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art, Las Vegas, Nevada, November 14, 2014 - May 25, 2015
Fabulous Fabergé, Jeweler to the Czars, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, June 14 - October 12, 2014
Fabergé Revealed, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, June 22 - September 29, 2013
Fabergé: The Rise and Fall, Detroit Institute of Art, October 14, 2012 - January 21, 2013
Fabergé Revealed, VMFA, July 9, 2011 - October 2, 2011
Lillian Thomas Pratt Collection of Fabergé, coinciding with Fabergé in America, Metropolitan Museum of Art, February 12 - April 18, 1996, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, May 25 - July 28, 1996, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, August 24 - November 10, 1996, New Orleans Museum of Art, December 7, 1996 - February 8, 1997, Cleveland Museum of Art, March 12 - May 11, 1997
"Collector of the Year", VMFA, February 6 - March 13, 1983
"Today Show" New York, March 26, 1968
Image released via Creative Commons CC-BY-NC
Lillian Thomas Pratt’s Fabergé: Shopping, Collecting, Remembering
27:02This intimate documentary unveils the world-renowned Lillian Thomas Pratt Collection of Fabergé and Russian Decorative Arts at the VMFA through recollections of family members and others who share their experiences about Mrs. Pratt, the passionate collector, and the facts behind the fantasies.
Some object records are not complete and do not reflect VMFA's full and current knowledge. VMFA makes routine updates as records are reviewed and enhanced.
