(Newswire.net — July 7, 2018) — Perhaps one of the most historical and equally aesthetically-pleasing items we have around today is the Faberge crystal egg collection. They hold a lot of significance, retain the beauty they were developed with and have had quite a rough patch in their time of existence.
Developed mainly under the supervision of Peter Carl Faberge of the House of Faberge, these crystal eggs have more to them than meets the eye.
Don’t take our word for it. Check them out for yourself below.
History
As the name implies, the Faberge crystal egg came into being as the brainchild of the man named Carl Faberge. It all started in the year when then Emperor of Russia – Alexander III – commissioned the jewellery maker to develop a gift for his wife. Faberge took the challenge and that led to the creation of the first ever egg in the series. It was this one he named the Hen Egg.
After the presentation of the gift to his wife (Empress Maria Fyodorovna) as an Easter present, she loved it so much that it became a tradition in the imperial royal family. It was now not only limited to the Emperor and his wife but an open tradition for every other member of the royal family to present one of these to each other at the time of Easter.
In total, Faberge designed a total of 50 crystal eggs for the royal family and they remain the originals.
Through the events of the World War and other acquisitions by personal collectors, only 42 of those eggs have been found and preserved to date.
Design
The design of the eggs was another thing that made them special. Talking of being special, the time that was taken to develop each piece also contributed to this effect. The making of each egg took roughly a year and they had to be carefully worked into specifications by skilled workmen.
However, they still remained the brainchildren of Carl Faberge who took the effort to design all the elements that would be within and on the outside of each egg.
Perhaps the most special thing about the Faberge crystal egg is the surprise that lies in it. For all the 50 eggs Faberge developed for the royal family, there was a different surprise. The receiver would have to go through a series of multifaceted platforms in the egg before they got to the main present within it.
Even if they did not get to the root of the egg (which they would eventually), the outer structure was enough of a present. Faberge always went the whole yard by making use of diamonds, rubies, emeralds and other such precious stones to beautify his already laudable designs.
Controversies
There is nothing of beauty which does not have some controversies of its own to match. Same goes for the Faberge crystal eggs all over the world. The eggs which the royals loved so much was equally if not more, hated by the Bolsheviks.
They were viewed as a symbol of wasteful spending that the elites indulged in at a time when there was a lot of famine and hungering the land. The controversies then went on as the eggs were captured by Stalin during the World War II. He even sold about 14 of them at ridiculous prices which angered a lot of Russian curators.
However, he should be credited for making sure one of the best eggs in Faberge’s collection – the Peacock egg – survived the test of time.
Conclusion
Having encountered such a history, it is no surprise why there is so much going on around the Faberge crystal egg. Haven’t seen one before? You might be missing out on one of the most intriguing relics to have survived since the late 19th century.