Imperial Peter the Great Easter Egg (Primary Title)
Fabergé firm, Russian, 1842 - 1917 (Manufacturer)
Vasilii Zuiev, Russian, 1870 - after 1931 (Painter)
Mikhail Perkhin, 1860 - 1903 (Workmaster)
The Imperial Peter the Great Easter Egg was presented by Tsar Nicholas II to his wife, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, in 1903. It commemorates the 200th anniversary of the founding of St. Petersburg by Tsar Peter the Great. The top of the egg bears the Cyrillic initials of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna. When it is opened, a replica of Étienne-Maurice Falconet’s famous statue of Tsar Peter the Great rises out of the egg.
Miniatures:
“Peter the Great” miniature signed in Russian, right side: З. Зуавь for the court miniaturist Vasilii Zuiev (1870-after 1931);
“Czar Nicholas II” miniature signed in Russian, left side: З. Зуавь for the court miniaturist Vasilii Zuiev (1870-after 1931)
Stamped K. Fabergé, initials of workmaster Mikhail Perkhin, assay mark of St. Petersburg 1899–1908, assay master Iakov Liapunov, 56 and 72 zolotnik;
See: "signed" box in this TMS entry for the signatures of Zuiev on two painted miniatures
Inscribed on exterior: "The Emperor Nicholas II, born in 1868, came to the Throne in 1894; The Emporer Peter the Great, born in 1672, founded St. Petersburg in 1703; The first little house of Emperor Peter the Great in 1703; and The Winter Palace of His Imperial Majesty in 1903" Inscribed on sapphire: "To Peter the First from Catherine the Second, 1782--Petro Primo Catherina Secunda MDCCLXXXII"
Miniature statue: inscribed Petro Primo / Catharina Secunda / MDCCLXXXII, written in Cyrillic on the other side.
Bequest of Lillian Thomas Pratt
Exhibitions: New York 1936 (no. 1326); Richmond 1948, 1954, 1983; Roanoke 1950; New York 1983 (no. 560, p. 147, ill. cover, p. 148); New York/San Francisco/Richmond/New Orleans/ Cleveland 1996/7 (cat. no. 152, pp. 162/3, ills. pp. 162/3); Richmond/Detroit/ Salem/ Montreal/Las Vegas/Oklahoma City/Beijing 2012–2016 (cat. no. 187, pp. 264–267, ills. pp. 264, 266/7); New York 2018 (ills. pp. 9, 24, no. 4).
(for these entries, see the Bibliography, Taschen, in the Bibliography section in the TMS entry).
2018: Collecting for the Commonwealth Preserving for the Nation, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1919-2018, Winter Antiques Show, Park Avenue Armory, New York City, NY, January 18 - 26, 2018.
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, February 6 - March 13, 1983
"Today Show," New York, March 26, 1968
(for these entries, see the Bibliography, Taschen, in the Bibliography section in the TMS entry).
2018: Collecting for the Commonwealth Preserving for the Nation, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1919-2018, Winter Antiques Show, Park Avenue Armory, New York City, NY, January 18 - 26, 2018.
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, February 6 - March 13, 1983
"Today Show," New York, March 26, 1968
Some of the subsequent history of the egg, as described in this paragraph, was published by Will Lowes and Christel Ludewig McCanless. After its presentation to Empress Alexandra Feodorovna in 1903, the egg was in her Study at the Winter Palace in St Petersburg between 1903 and 1917. Sometime between 16 and 20 September 1917, it was transferred by order of the Provisional Government to the Kremlin Armory for security. The egg was then moved between February and March 1922 to the Sovnarkom (Council of People’s Commissars). On 17 June 1927, it was returned to the Kremlin Armory from the Foreign Currency Fund of the Narkomfin (Finance Department) and given the inventory number 17541. On 30 April 1930, the egg was selected for export sale. On 21 June 1930, it was moved from the Kremlin Armory to the Antikvariat (Trade Department) in Moscow. They sold the egg to an unnamed buyer (perhaps Alexander Schaffer)(?) for 4,000 rubles in 1933. At some point during the 1930s to 1942, it was in the possession of the Schaffer Collection of Russian Imperial Art Treasures in New York. The egg was acquired by Lillian Thomas Pratt for $16,500 and, to pay for it, she made 33 payments between 2 February 1942 and 1 December 1944. Mrs. Pratt bequeathed it to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in 1947. Of the five Imperial Easter eggs by Fabergé acquired by Mrs. Pratt, the most sumptuous example is the Peter the Great Easter egg.
Presented by Emperor Nicholas II to Empress Alexandra Feodorovna on Easter, April 6, 1903; [1] In Empress’s Study at the Winter Palace, 1903-17; [2] Confiscated by order of the Provisional Government and sent to the Kremlin Armory in Moscow for safekeeping in September 1917. [3] In 1922, transferred to the Sovnarkom, the Council of People’s Commissars, Moscow. [4] In June 1927, returned by the Foreign Currency Fund of the Narkomfin (Finance Ministry) to the Armory and given inventory no. 17541. [5] By 1933, transferred to the Antikvariat (Trade Department) and sold to an unrecorded American buyer (Alexander Schaffer)(?). [6] By 1936, purchased (Alexander Schaffer, A La Vieille Russie, New York) and shown publicly; [7] acquired by Lillian Thomas Pratt (1876-1947) for $16,500, with 33 payments made between February 2, 1942 and December 1, 1944; [8] Bequest to Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA), Richmond, Virginia, August 13, 1947. [9]
[1] This is documented in numerous publications and VMFA object file. See Géza Von Habsburg (Author), Carol Aiken (Contributor), Christel Ludewig McCanless (Contributor), Mark Schaffer (Contributor), Ulla Tillander-Godenhielm (Contributor). Faberge Revealed: At the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. New York: Skira Rizzoli, 2011, pp. 276-281.
[2] It is noted as being in her study in 1909 in Lowes, Will, and Christel Ludewig McCanless. Fabergé Eggs: A Retrospective Encyclopedia, Scarecrow Press, 2001, pp. 82 – 83. (further information and information: Fabergé Research Site: Faberge Imperial Egg Chronology: Imperial Easter Eggs Index. See https://fabergeresearch.com/eggs-faberge-imperial-egg-chronology/#peterthegreategg. Other publications list it as being in Winter Palace from 1903 – 1917. (Hapsburg, 2011, p. 277.)
[3] Lowes and McCanless, 2001, p. 83: “September 16-20, 1917. One of forty or so eggs sent to the Armoury Palace of the Kremlin in Moscow by the Kerensky Provisional Government for safekeeping.”
[4] Lowes and McCanless, 2001, p. 83.
[5] Lowes and McCanless, 2001, p. 83.
[6] Hapsburg, 2011, p. 278. Lowes and McCanless, 2001, p. 83.
[7] Displayed with the Schaeffer Collection of Imperial Art Treasures, Rockefeller Center, New York. Hapsburg, 2011, p. 278. In Lowes and McCanless, 2001, p. 83: states that was shown by Schaeffer “publicly for the first time in the United States” in November of 1936. Documents from VMFA’s Archive holdings of Lillian Thomas Pratt Personal Papers indicate an inventory number of 1326.
[8] See the Lillian Thomas Pratt Archives and Fabergé at VMFA: http://faberge.vmfa.museum/#
[9] Information in VMFA Curatorial and Registration files.
PROVENANCE:
According to Will Lowes and Christel Ludewig McCanless, the provenance for this egg has been published as follows. It was presented by Emperor Nicholas II to his wife, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna at Easter, April 6, 1903; kept in her Study at the Winter Palace, St. Petersburg, 1903-1917; transferred September 16-20, 1917 by order of the Provisional Government and sent to the Kremlin Armory for safekeeping; transferred February-March 1922 to the Sovnarkom, the Council of People’s Commissars; returned June 17, 1927 to the Kremlin Armory from the Foreign Currency Fund of the Narkomfin (Finance Ministry) and assigned inventory number 17541; selected for export sale on April 30, 1930; transferred on June 21, 1930 from the Kremlin Armory to the Antikvariat (Trade Department), Moscow; sold by the Antikivariat (Trade Department), Moscow, to an anonymous buyer (Alexander Schaffer)(?) for 4,000 rubles in 1933; with the Schaffer Collection of Russian Imperial Art Treasures, New York, between sometime in the 1930s to 1942; acquired by Lillian Thomas Pratt for $16,500, with 33 payments made between February 2, 1942 and December 1, 1944; bequeathed by Mrs. Pratt to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in 1947.
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.
