Twelve Monograms
| Twelve Monograms/Alexander III Portraits Fabergé egg | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Year delivered | 1896 |
| Current owner | |
| Individual or institution | Hillwood Museum |
The Twelve Monograms also known as the Alexander III Portraits Egg is a jewelled Easter egg made under the supervision of the Russian jeweller Peter Carl Fabergé in 1896, for the then Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II.
Tsar Nicholas presented the egg to his mother, the Dowager Empress Maria Fyodorovna.
The Twelve Monograms/ Alexander III Portraits Egg was the second Fabergé egg given by Tsar Nicholas to his mother.
It is currently held in the Hillwood Museum in Washington, D.C. as part of the Marjorie Merriweather Post Collection.[1]
Surprise
The surprise for this egg is missing.
Craftsmanship
Each panel of the egg contains a Cyrillic cipher of Alexander III and Maria Fedorovna, set and crowned in diamonds, set against the dark blue enamel with a design of red gold, rose-cut diamonds, portrait diamonds and velvet lining. It is covered by six panels each divided by bands set with rose-cut diamonds and decorated with the Imperial crown and Imperial monograms (MF) "Maria Fyodorovna" and (AIII) "Alexander III". Each monogram appears six times, with Maria's monogram appearing on the top half of the egg and Alexander's appearing on the bottom.
For a long time this egg was thought to have been the 1892 gift for Maria and Alexander's 25th wedding anniversary. It was also incorrectly believed to be the Imperial Easter Egg of 1895.