THE HEART SURPRISE FRAME: A FABERGÉ GOLD, ENAMEL AND JEWELED EASTER EGG SURPRISE PRESENTED BY EMPEROR NICHOLAS II TO HIS MOTHER THE DOWAGER EMPRESS MARIA FEODOROVNA AT EASTER 1897

The heart enameled strawberry red over a guillochŽ ground, banded in diamonds and mounted with the diamond-set date 1897, above a hexagonal paneled stem enameled white and painted with spiralling vine, on a stepped dome base decorated with gold leafage, diamonds, gilt-decorated strawberry red enamel and pearls.When the stem is depressed the heart opens to reveal a brilliant green enamel clover with a guillochŽ sunburst ground, each leaf set with a diamond framed miniature, the first of Nicholas II, the second of Alexandra Feodorovna and the third of the infant Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaievna, when a pearl on the base is pushed the clover closes, base engraved in cursive script, K. FabergŽ, in Cyrillic.

The members of Sovnarkom and Antikvariat, in charge of the dispersal of the contents of the Imperial palaces, frequently separated the surprises from within FabergŽ Easter eggs in order to maximize their profit. A number of factors support the identification of the Heart Surprise Frame as having been the surprise within a mauve Imperial Easter egg Tsar Nicholas gave his mother the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna on April 18, 1897. The evidence includes a FabergŽ invoice, dated May 17, 1897, for a “mauve enamel egg, with 3 miniatures,” priced at 3,250 rubles. Furthermore, the Heart Surprise Frame lacks an assay mark, which was not required on objects destined for Imperial presentation, but does have a cursive signature, a style of marking generally reserved for Imperial pieces. The combination of a very similar heart-shaped frame with an Easter egg was repeated by FabergŽ in the Kelch Rocaille Egg of 1902. As is the case for many of Nicholas’ presents, it clearly speaks the language of his love for his “Dearest, Darling Mama”, who always tried to protect him (“poor Nicky”), especially after the untimely death of his father, Tsar Alexander III in 1894.

Maria Feodorovna (“Minnie”) (1847-1928) was born Princess Dagmar of Denmark, fourth child of King Christian IX of Denmark and of Queen Louise. On October 28, 1866 she married the heir to the Russian throne, Alexander Alexandrovich, who, upon the assassination of his father, Tsar Alexander II, became Tsar in 1881. Until the death of Alexander III in 1894, she reigned as Tsarina. Her sisters were Alexandra (1844-1925),Queen Consort of Edward VII of Great Britain and Thyra (1853-1933), Crown Princess of Hanover; her brothers were Frederick VIII (1843-1912), King of Denmark, Wilhelm (1845-1913, from 1863 King George I of Greece) and Waldemar (1858-1939).

FabergŽ’s delightful objet d’art is in the then current Neo-Classical style, a red enamel heart with Louis XVI-style embellishments of underglaze gold-leaf laurel garlands, chased gold acanthus leaves and painted laurel leaf sprays. A clever mechanism allows the heart to fall open forming a green enamel three-leaf clover, the petals inset with miniatures of the Imperial couple and their chubby first daughter, Olga, Maria Feodorovna’s first grandchild, born November 3, 1895. At her birth Nicholas recorded in his diary: “At exactly 9 we heard a child’s squeak, and we all breathed freely! A daughter sent by God, in prayer we named her Olga.” 2 FabergŽ’s creation shows a close-knit family of three, three petals of one flower, enclosed in a heart, a present symbolizing the close union of son and mother, as yet unclouded by the later troubled relationship between Maria Feodorovna and her daughter-in-law. On March 7, 1897, Marie Feodorovna wrote to her father:
“Nicky’s [daughter] is an exceptionally large baby, unbelievably sturdy and fat and so heavy that one can really hardly carry her. They are very pleased at spending the winter at Tsarskoie, where Nicky does, indeed, have a bit more freedom and can be outside in the good air more than here in the city. But it does have less positive sides in that she hardly sees any people, and that they are living far too much by themselves and do not even see the poor ladies and gentlemen of their entourage who live there.Well, that will probably come with time, we must hope….” 3

The future problems of the young couple were already all too visible to the dutiful and perspicacious Maria Feodorovna only a few years into their reign.

NOTES
1. Russian State Archive, Moscow, Stock 468, inv. 13, file 1843. Quoted from Fabergé/Proler/Skurlov 1997.
2. Quoted from Forbes/Tromeur-Brenner 1999.
3. March 7/19, 1897. Russian State Archive, Moscow.