Imperial Napoleonic Egg

Czar Nicholas II presented this egg to his mother, the dowager empress Maria Feodorovna, on Easter 1912. The egg commemorates the centenary of the Russian victory over the armies of Napoleon; its design, colors, motifs, and monumentality were inspired by the French Empire style. Like the Imperial Danish Palaces Egg, it opens on a hinge, revealing the extraordinary solid gold structure of the lid. Inside is a folding six-panel screen with miniatures showing the six regiments of which the dowager empress was a honorary colonel. On the reverse of each panel is the crowned cipher of Maria Feodorovna.

From left to right: Her Majesty’s Regiment of the Chevaliers Guard; the Imperial Guard Cuisassier; the Fleet of the Imperial Guard; the Second Pskov Dragoons; the Eleventh Chuguevski Uhlans; the Eleventh East Siberian Rifles