The Mosaic Egg and Surprise

This egg is one of the most extraordinary of Fabergé’s Imperial Easter Eggs.  Its intricate mesh is fitted with tiny diamonds, rubies, topaz, sapphires, garnets, pearls and emeralds.  All are perfectly cut and polished to fill the spaces.  Around the centre of the egg, oval panels depict flowers in a style intended to look like embroidery. The designer, Alma Theresia Pihl, was inspired to produce this motif when one evening she watched her mother-in-law doing her needlework, which shimmered in the light of the fire.  The egg also contains a hidden 'surprise' – a medallion with portraits of the children of Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra.  The egg was bought by King George V in 1933, probably for Queen Mary’s birthday.