The Basket of Flowers Faberge Egg is a jewelled enameled Easter egg made under the supervision of the Russian jeweller Peter Carl Fabergé in 1901. The egg was made for Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, who presented it to his wife, the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia.
The egg in the form of a flower basket, the body of the silver egg is covered with opalescent oyster enamel with applied trellis-work in rose-cut diamonds. The date, 1901, is also in rose-cut diamonds. The foot of the egg, originally opalescent white, is now dark blue enamel, also applied with rose-cut diamond decorations and borders. An elaborate composition of wildflowers sits in green gold thread moss. The flowers are made of gold and are covered with a variety of colors of enamel, including matt pink, white, dark blue, orange, and mauve. The whole is finished with a diamond-set handle tied with diamond-set ribbons.
1 April 1 1901 (14 April 1901 N.S.) Presented to Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, a gift from her husband, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia at a cost 6,850 rubles.
10 April 1909 (23 April 1909 N.S.) Housed in Alexandra Feodorovna’s study at the Winter Palace.
Now owned by Queen Elizabeth ll of the United Kingdom, inherited from her grandmother, Queen Mary of the United Kingdom.
