A rare imperial Faberge egg has sold for a stunning £22.9 mln at Christie’s in London, setting a new world auction record for any work by the famed Russian jeweller.
The 1913 «Winter Egg», commissioned by Emperor Nicholas II as an Easter gift for his mother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, is considered one of Faberge’s most elaborate creations. Carved from rock crystal and decorated with a platinum snowflake motif and 4,500 diamonds, the 10cm egg is regarded as a masterpiece of both craftsmanship and artistry.
Christie’s said the sale shattered the previous Fabergé record, £8.9 mln for the Rothschild Egg in 2007, by more than £13 mln. It is the third time the Winter Egg has broken the world record for a Fabergé piece.
Margo Oganesian, head of Christie’s Faberge department, called the sale a historic moment, noting that only a handful of imperial eggs remain in private hands.
The Winter Egg has a dramatic history: seized after the 1917 Russian Revolution, sold off by the Soviet government in the 1920s for a fraction of its value, and lost for nearly 20 years before resurfacing at auction in 1994. It has repeatedly set price records, including sales in 1994 and 2002.
Its latest sale cements its status as one of the most coveted objects from Imperial Russia.
