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Name |
The Standart Yacht Egg |
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Date |
1909 |
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Provenance |
Presented by Nicholas II to Czarina Alexandra Fyodorovna |
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Made in |
St. Petersburg |
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Work-master |
Henrik Wigström |
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Marks |
K. Fabergé, H. W., 72, kokoshnik, Y. L., initials of Yakov Lyapunov, inspector of the St. Petersburg Standard Board |
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Media |
gold, silver, diamonds, pearls, lapis lazuli, rock crystal |
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Size |
15,3 cm tall - base: 10,0 x 8,4 cm - height of model: 2 cm - length of model: 7,5 cm |
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Techniques |
carving, stamping, enamel |
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Kept in |
Kremlin Armoury Museum, Moscow |
Click on the thumbnails to see a bigger image |
Sailing on the clear rock crystal oval base representing the sea, inside this egg, is a replica of the royal yacht, the Standart - reproduced to the last detail - where many happy days were spent together. The crystal egg is horizontally mounted in gold and bears the inscription "Standart 1909" on the edge of the mount.
A gold band, with inlaid leaves of green enamel and small diamonds, lines the perimeter of the egg. The bottom half of the egg is decorated with a vertical gold band with inlaid designs. A crowned eagle of lapis lazuli is perched on either side of the egg; a pear-shaped pearl hangs from each of them. The shaft consists of two lapislazuli dolphins with intertwined tails. The oval base is of quartz crystal with a wide base of white enamel inlaid with laurel garlands and bands of small diamonds with laurel branches in green enamel
The ca. 5,500 ton yacht Standart was commissioned by Alexander III in Copenhagen. It was first launched in 1895 and was 116 meters long, making it the largest yacht in the world at that time. It had thirty rooms, and a stable for a cow to ensure the imperial children of fresh milk! The yacht took the imperial family on frequent sorties along the Baltic and the Finnish coasts.
Fabergé differed wery much from all the other jewelers of the period. Where they were only interested in large gemstones, Karl Fabergé was interested in the ultimate effect that a piece would have, a lasting effect so that every time you looked at a particular object, you would have this great sense of sheer enjoyment and pleasure from it.
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