On October 20, 1894, Tsar Alexander died. Just a few weeks later, on November 14, his son married Nicholas Alexandra Feodorovna, formerly Princess Alix Victoria Helene Luise Beatrix of Hesse-Darmstadt. The homesick young bride missed, among other things, the roses in her homeland. In Darmstadt, there was a famous rose garden called “Rosenhöhe,” established in 1810 by Grand Duchess Wilhelmine of Hesse, Princess of Baden (1788-1836) and designed by the Swiss garden architect Zeyher. In 1894, Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig, Alexandra's brother, built the Palais Rosenhöhe there (destroyed 1944) and had the garden redesigned, adding the Rosendom. To this day, the Rosenhöhe remains one of the most beautiful rose gardens in Germany. The Rosebud Egg, then,was an ideal gift for Nicholas to give to his adored wife for their first Easter together. 1

With its bonbonnière shape, its chased gold laurel swags, its diamond-set tied ribbons and arrows and its red guilloché enamel ground, the egg is a perfect rendition of an eighteenth-century symbol of Love. The Rosebud Egg is also the quintessence of Fabergé's new Neo-Classical style. Neoclassicism, inspired by Antiquity, was developed during the reign of Louis XVI as a reaction against the exuberant Rococo idiom of the Louis XV period. As in the case of the eighteenth century, nineteenth century Neo-Classicism followed the Neo-Rococo of the 1880s and is best seen in Michael Perchin's early work for the Fabergé firm. In Paris the new Neo-Classical style was embraced by those few who eschewed the all-powerful influence of Art Nouveau. The two contrasting styles of Neo-Classicism and of Art Nouveau are clearly represented in the oeuvre of the great firms of Cartier and Lalique. On one hand, Cartier, ensconced in the firm's new rue de la Paix premises, did not exhibit at the 1900 Exposition Universelle and totally negated the much fêted symbolist movement. On the other hand stood the extraordinary series of jewels created by Lalique for Calouste Gulbenkian, shown to much public acclaim at the 1900 World Fair. The light touch and elegance of Cartier's novel Neo-Classical style was underlined by the firm's use of platinum, a Cartier innovation. Even contemporary music, such as Debussy's Pelleas et Mélisande of 1900-1902, reflects the influence of Neo-Classicism.

The floral form of the surprise is an eighteenth-century concept continued into the nineteenth century. Such enameled flowers, popular at the time as watch-cases or perfume bottles, were generally produced in Geneva. A Swiss rose with spring-loaded pink enamel petals opening to show a watch was made in Geneva in the 1830s . 2 Fabergé's yellow rose originally opened to reveal a crown containing a pear-shaped ruby pendant as further symbols of Imperial authority and of Love.

This egg is listed on Fabergé's invoice as:
“31 March. Red enamel egg with crown. St. Petersburg,May 9, 1895 3250 r.” 3

The Rosebud Egg, the first Imperial Easter Egg received by the new Empress, was kept by her, along with all the early Fabergé Easter eggs, in a corner cabinet of the Imperial couple's private apartment at the Winter Palace, between a door leading into the bedroom and a window. There the egg and its surprise were minutely described in 1909 by the Inspector of Premises of the Imperial Winter Palace as containing “ an Imperial crown entirely made of rose-cut diamonds with two cabochon rubies . ” 4

The Rosebud Egg was first exhibited in 1935 in London as owned by a Mr. Parsons, still containing its surprise of a diamond-set crown with a pendant ruby. In 1953 Kenneth Snowman included an archival photograph of it and listed its current whereabouts as unknown. Lost for four decades, rumor had it that the egg had been seriously damaged, if not destroyed, in a marital dispute. Telltale damage to the enamel (expertly repaired since) enabled Malcolm Forbes, who acquired the egg in 1985 from the Fine Art Society, London, to ascertain the egg's authenticity.

NOTES
1. Apparently yellow was the most prized color for a rose in the Darmstadt garden.
2. Osvaldo Patrizzi and Fabienne Sturm, Montres de Fantaisie 1790-1850 , Geneva, 1979.
3. Fabergé/Proler/Skurlov 1997.
4. Op. cit. (Archive of the Hermitage, Stock I, inventoryVIII-G, file 7b, nr. 195).