Mastery of Design: The Colonnade Egg by Fabergé, 1910

The Colonnade Egg
1910, Fabergé
Bowenite, Four-Color Gold,
Diamonds, Platinum, Silver,
Enamel
The Royal Collection

This remarkable work of art is one of four Imperial Fabergé eggs which incorporated a clock into the central design. Designed by Henrik Wigström for Fabergé in 1910, the egg was originally presented to Russian Tsar Nicholas II as the traditional Easter gift for his wife.


The centerpiece of the egg is a rotary clock by Henri Moser et Cie. The clock is supported by bejeweled and enameled columns and surmounted by the egg itself so that it takes on the look of a temple. It is meant to represent the “temple of love.” Two platinum doves symbolize the Tsar and Tsarina, with four cherubs representing their daughters and a fifth putti at the apex of the dome—a symbol of their long-awaited son. The entire piece is adorned with diamonds, enamel, four-color gold, platinum and silver.

When Nicholas II was overthrown and his family killed in 1917, most of the Russian treasures were confiscated by the provisional government. The Colonnade Egg was among those items which were seized. It was presumed lost. However, in 1931, it reappeared in the hands of Mary of Teck who presented it as a gift to her husband, King George V.