A Faberge egg, commissioned by Emperor Nicholas II in 1913, is poised to fetch over £20 million at auction.
Known as the Winter Egg, this exquisite piece was an Easter gift for his mother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, and is hailed as one of Faberge’s most lavish imperial creations.
After the 1917 Russian Revolution, it was relocated from St Petersburg to the Kremlin Armoury in Moscow, alongside numerous other royal treasures.
During the 1920s, the Soviet government controversially began liquidating art treasures from the Hermitage Museum and other collections, frequently for a mere fraction of their true worth.
The Winter Egg was acquired by antiques dealers Wartski of London for £450, and then sold to a British collector in 1934 for £1,500, before later being sold on to another.
It was believed lost for two decades between 1975 and 1994, when it was sold at Christie’s for a world record sum of 7,263,500 Swiss francs (£6.8 million)
In 2002 it was once again sold by Christie’s, again selling at a world record of 9,579,000 US dollars (£7.1 million).
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.
Margo Oganesian, Christie’s head of department, Faberge and Russian works of art, said: “It is a privilege for Christie’s to be entrusted with the sale of the exquisite Winter Egg by Faberge for the third time in its history.
“With only six other Imperial Easter Eggs remaining in private collections, this is an extraordinary chance for collectors to acquire what is arguably one of Faberge’s finest creations, both technically and artistically.
“It would undoubtedly enhance the most distinguished collection.”
The Winter Egg will be sold at auction during Christie’s Classic Week in London on December 2.
