The Blue Serpent Clock egg is an Imperial

Fabergé egg A Fabergé egg () is a jewelled egg first created by the jewellery firm House of Fabergé, in Saint Petersburg, Russia. As many as 69 Czarist Russia Era eggs were created, of which 61 are currently known to have survived. Virtually all of the ...

, one of a series of fifty-two jeweled

eggs An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo begins to develop. Egg, EGG or eggs may also refer to: Biology * Egg cell, the female reproductive cell (gamete) in oogamous organisms Food * Eggs as food Places * Egg, Austria * Egg, Switzerland ...

made under the supervision of

Peter Carl Fabergé Peter Carl Gustavovich Fabergé (; – 24 September 1920; also known as Charles Fabergé) was a Russian goldsmith and jeweller. He is best known for creating Fabergé eggs made in the style of genuine Easter eggs, but using precious metals and ...

for the

Russian Imperial Family The House of Romanov (also transliterated as Romanoff; , ) was the reigning imperial house of Russia from 1613 to 1917. They achieved prominence after Anastasia Romanovna married Ivan the Terrible, the first crowned tsar of all Russia. Ni ...

. This egg features a clock and is a design that Fabergé repeated for the Duchess of Marlborough egg in 1902. Both pieces are based on the ''cercles tournants'' (revolving dial) urn clocks in the

Louis XVI style Louis XVI style, also called ''Louis Seize'', is a style of architecture, furniture, decoration and art which developed in France during the 19-year reign of Louis XVI (1774–1792), just before the French Revolution. It saw the final phase of t ...

with a snake to indicate the time. It is currently owned by

Prince Albert II Albert II (Albert Alexandre Louis Pierre Grimaldi; born 14 March 1958) is Prince of Monaco, reigning since 2005. Born at the Prince's Palace of Monaco, Albert is the second child and only son of Prince Rainier III and Princess Grace. He attend ...

and is held in

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

Design

The crafting of this Imperial egg is credited to

Michael Perkhin Michael Evlampievich Perkhin (; 1860-1903) was a Russian jeweler. Born in Okulovskaya in Olonets Governorate (now Republic of Karelia), he moved to St. Petersburg, he joined the House of Fabergé. With Henrik Wigström, he was one of the tw ...

of Fabergé's shop. The egg stands on a base of gold, blue and opalescent white

guilloché Guilloché (), or guilloche (), is a decorative technique in which a very precise, intricate and repetitive pattern is mechanically engraved into an underlying material via engine turning, which uses a machine of the same name. Engine turning m ...

enamel. The three panels of the base feature motifs of raised

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

in four colors, representing the arts and sciences. A serpent, set with diamonds coils around the stand connecting the base to the egg and up toward its center. The serpent's head and tongue point to the hour indicated in Roman numerals on a white band that runs around the egg near the top. This band rotates within the egg to indicate the time, rather than the serpent rotating around the egg. This is the first of the Tsar Imperial Fabergé eggs to feature a working clock. The majority of the egg is enameled in translucent blue, and diamond-studded gold bands and designs ring the top and bottom of the egg. On each side of the egg, a sculpted gold handle arches up in a "C" shape, attached to the egg on the top near the apex and on the lower half of the egg, near the center.

Surprise

The working clock is considered the egg's "surprise".

History

It is not known when or how the Tsar ordered the

Easter egg Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian holiday of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are commonly used during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The ...

from Fabergé, but the Blue Serpent Clock Egg was presented to Maria Feodorovna by Tsar Nicholas II on

Easter Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...

day, 1895.Wintraecken, Annemiek "The Fabergé Imperial Easter Eggs: New Discoveries Revise Timeline", Fabergé Research Newsletter, November 2008

/ref> The egg was housed in the Anichkov Palace until the Russian Revolution (1917), 1917 revolution, along with some other Fabergé eggs owned by Maria Feodorovna. The Serpent Clock Egg was transferred to the Armory Palace of the

Kremlin The Moscow Kremlin (also the Kremlin) is a fortified complex in Moscow, Russia. Located in the centre of the country's capital city, the Moscow Kremlin (fortification), Kremlin comprises five palaces, four cathedrals, and the enclosing Mosco ...

in mid-September 1917. In 1922, the egg was likely transferred to the Sovnarkom, where it was held until it was sold abroad to Michel Norman of the Australian Pearl Company. Between 1922 and 1950, the egg was bought by Emanuel Snowman of Wartski, sold, and bought back by Wartski. The egg was sold again by Wartski on Christmas Eve 1972 to

Stavros Niarchos Stavros Spyrou Niarchos (, ; 3 July 1909 – 15 April 1996) was a Greek billionaire shipping tycoon. Starting in 1952, he had the world's biggest supertankers built for his fleet. Propelled by both the Suez Crisis and increasing demand for oil, ...

for £64,103.Munn, Geoffrey "The Rediscovery of the Serpent Egg Clock", Fabergé Research Newsletter, November 2008

/ref> It was then given in 1974 to Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, Prince Rainier III of

to honor his Silver Jubilee.McCanless, Christel Ludewig "The Big Surprise"; Fabergé Research Newsletter, Fall 2008

/ref> The Prince was unaware of its imperial provenance until it was lent to an exhibition. Following the death of Rainier III in 2005, it was inherited by his son,

. Most Fabergé scholarship published prior to 2008 assigned the egg's creation to 1887, although with some notable reservations due to inconsistencies between the Blue Serpent Clock egg and contemporary descriptions of the 1887 egg. The Blue Serpent Clock Egg contains no

sapphire Sapphire is a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide () with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, cobalt, lead, chromium, vanadium, magnesium, boron, and silicon. The name ''sapphire ...

s. At the same time, descriptions for the 1887 egg from the Russian State Historical Archives, the 1917 inventory of confiscated imperial treasure and the 1922 transfer documents for the egg to be moved from the

Anichkov Palace The Anichkov Palace, a former imperial palace in Saint Petersburg, stands at the intersection of Nevsky Avenue and the Fontanka River. History 18th century The palace, situated on the plot formerly owned by Antonio de Vieira (1682?-1745), ...

to the Sovnarkom, all describe an egg containing sapphires (the Third Imperial Egg recovered in 2012 contains sapphires and consistently fits the descriptions associated with the 1887 egg). In 2008, Annemiek Wintraecken, a Fabergé egg researcher/popularizer on her website, postulated the theory that the Blue Serpent Clock egg was Maria Feodorovna's Imperial Easter egg for 1895. The 2012 rediscovery of the 1887 Third Imperial Egg, announced to the world in March 2014, validated Wintraecken's theory.

Notes

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