WINTER EGG BY FABERGÉ BREAKS HISTORIC RECORD WITH US$30.2 MILLION SALE IN LONDON
A landmark sale has reignited global interest in one of the most coveted objects of Russian imperial art. In London, the luxury market once again demonstrated that its magnetism remains intact.
A rare imperial Fabergé egg, long regarded as one of the pinnacle works of Russian decorative arts, reached a record £22.9 million (US$30.2 million) on Tuesday at a Christie’s auction in London, solidifying its status as the most valuable piece ever sold from the legendary workshop founded by Peter Carl Fabergé.
The sale, concluded after a bidding session of barely three minutes, exceeded the house’s pre-sale estimate of £20 million and headlined the auction titled The Winter Egg and Important Works of Fabergé from a Princely Collection, a selection of 48 lots totaling £27.8 million. Christie’s did not disclose the identity of the buyer, described only as a private collector.
Commissioned in 1913 by Tsar Nicholas II as an Easter gift for his mother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, the so-called Winter Egg is one of the 50 imperial pieces created for the Romanov dynasty between 1885 and 1917. Only seven remain today in private hands. Crafted primarily from finely carved rock crystal and decorated with platinum snowflake motifs and approximately 4,500 rose-cut diamonds, it opens to reveal a tiny hanging basket filled with anemones carved from white quartz, nephrite and garnets.
Designed by Alma Theresia Pihl, one of the few women working in the St. Petersburg workshop, the egg is regarded by experts as an aesthetic outlier within the Fabergé canon. Unlike models inspired by Rococo or Neoclassical styles, the Winter Egg presents a more modern and abstract language. Legend holds that Pihl conceived the design after noticing ice crystals forming on the window beside her workbench.
“It is the ‘Mona Lisa’ of the decorative arts,” said Margo Oganesian, head of Christie’s Russian Art Department, after the sale. “Its rarity, its technical complexity and its flawless execution make it a work virtually impossible to replicate.” Kieran McCarthy, joint managing director of the antique jeweler Wartski, added that its value lies in transforming “precious materials into a moment of nature,” a craftsmanship that has made Fabergé synonymous with imperial artistry.
The piece has set a world record each time it has appeared at auction. After the Russian Revolution, it was sold by the Soviet government in the 1920s for just £450 before entering various British private collections. Believed lost between 1975 and 1994, it resurfaced at Christie’s Geneva, setting a record of 7.2 million Swiss francs. It broke that record again in 2002 when it sold for US$9.6 million.
The new price far surpasses the US$18.5 million achieved by the Rothschild Egg in 2007, previously the highest price paid for a Fabergé piece. Christie’s noted that of the 43 surviving imperial eggs, most are now held by museums or institutions, a factor that has intensified competition among high-level collectors for the few remaining examples available on the market.