A jewel-studded Easter gift for the mother of Russia’s last emperor has sold for a record £22.9 million in London.
According to Independent, the Winter Egg, which was commissioned by Emperor Nicholas II in 1913 as a gift for his mother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, is described as one of the most lavish of Faberge’s imperial creations.
It is finely carved in rock crystal and engraved on the interior with a frost design, while the exterior is applied with rose-cut diamond-set platinum snowflake motifs.
It sold on Tuesday for £22,895,000, London auction house Christie’s said, beating the previous world auction record for a work by Faberge by more than £13 million.
The old record was set in 2007 when the Rothschild Egg fetched £8.9 million.
Christie’s said it is the third time the Winter Egg has set a record price for a Faberge piece.
Margo Oganesian, Christie’s head of department for Faberge and Russian works of art, said: “Christie’s is honoured to have been entrusted with the sale of the exquisite Winter Egg by Faberge for the third time in our history.
After the Russian Revolution in 1917, it was transferred from St Petersburg to the Kremlin Armoury in Moscow along with many other valuable possessions of the royal family.
