The above image was one of the very last two egg-pictures I missed! Thank you so much "Laurent"!

The Twilight Egg is made of Lapis Lazuli, gold, diamonds, moonstone and paillons. A gold Egg with a mosaic of dark blue lapis lazuli formed a the night sky, inlaid paillons being the stars. In the front, a pair of gold gates fashioned to resemble wrought iron, are supported on both sides by carved lapis pilasters.

When opened, the gates reveal a gold panel engraved with a garden view of Peterhof. The back of the egg is set with a Lapis Romanov Eagle, carved in relief above the date, 1917, inlaid in engraved gold. The interior is fitted for a surprise, which is now missing.

According to experts, the body of the Egg is probably Fabergé, the additions, the Imperial crown, double headed eagle, the engraved gates and the jewels may well be later additions to the original lapis lazuli body with the stars and the date.

It was lang assumed that this was the 1917 imperial Egg for Alexandra, it was known the night theme was on Fabergé's mind at the time, and a watercolour design for an Easter Egg existed with a globe scattered with stars. It is now known through research in Russian archives that this drawing is of the 1917 Blue Tsarevich Constellation Egg.

1917 in production, possibly for a member of the Imperial family. 1923 owned by Dr. & Mrs. Lynn, Harbin, China. 1976 sold by Christie's Geneva from the Collection of Dr. & Mrs. Lynn, to a Herr Attinger, Zurich, Switzerland acting as agent for a private person.

The Chinese provenance of the Egg can be explained by the fact that numerous Russian "émigrés" fled eastward in 1917. The city of Harbin appears frequently in literature relating to the turbulent events in Russia at that time. It is likely that émigrés sold valuables in Harbin and Shanghai just as they did in Paris and London.

The October Revolution occurred in what the West calls November. The Russian Parliament, the Duma, was disbanded and democracy in Russia ceased. With this revolution members of the nobility, mercantile classes and the intelligencia fled; their homes, factories and shops having been confiscated and nationalised.

Many fled to the East, down the railway line into the Russian built city of Harbin in Manchuria. Built on land leased from China, Harbin was a Russian city providing a centre for the railway personnel and from which ran a rail spur to the strategically important port. After 1917, this was all that was left of Imperial Russia! Thousands of Russians passed through Harbin on the way to the West. Many went to Canada, where the Tzar’s sister, Grand Duchess Olga, ran a farm. Many went to Australia and America.

*About Harbin:

The modern city of Harbin originated in 1898 from a small village, with the start of the construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway (KWZhD) by Russia, an extension of the Trans-siberian railroad, shortcutting substantially the distance to Vladivostok and creating a link to the port city of Dairen (Dalnii) and the Russian Naval Base Port Arthur.

Following the Russian defeat in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), Russia's influence declined, and several thousand nationals from 33 countries including the United States, Germany, and France moved to Harbin. Sixteen countries established consulates and set up several hundred industrial, commercial and banking companies in Harbin. The Chinese also established their own businesses in brewing, foodstuffs and the textile industry. Harbin had established its status as the center of northeastern China and as an international metropolis.

In December 1918, during the Russian Civil War, defeated Russian White Guards and refugees retreated to the city: it then became a major centre of White Russian émigrés. The city became the largest Russian enclave outside Russia. The Jewish Community was formed by Russian Jews and included a group of German Jews, who fled Nazi-Germany in the late thirties. The Russians established the Russian school system and published the Russian language newspapers and journals.In 1935, after the sale of the railway (KWZhD) to the Japanese and after 1946 the bulk of Russians returned to the Soviet Union. The rest of the European Community (Germans, Poles, Greeks etc.) emigrated during the years 1950-54 to Australia, Brazil and the USA, or were repatriated to their home countries. In 1988 the original Russian community numbered just 30 old people.

With the establishment of the Manchukuo, Japanese troops occupied Harbin from February 4, 1932. The Soviet Army took the city on 20 August 1945. Harbin never came under the control of the Kuomintang, whose troops stopped 60 km short the city and its administration was transferred by the departing Soviet Army to the Chinese People's Liberation Army in April 1946.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harbin

 

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page updated: February 20, 2008