Twelve Monograms (Fabergé egg)
The Twelve Monograms (or the Silver Anniversary Egg) is a jewelled Easter egg made under the supervison of the Russian jeweller Peter Carl Fabergé in 1895, for the then Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II.
Tsar Nicholas presented the egg to his mother, the Dowager Empress Maria Fyodorovna.
The egg was the first presented to Tzar Nicholas, continuing the tradition started under his father, Alexander III
After Alexander's death, in the short time remaining before the Easter holiday in 1895, Fabergé had not only to rework the egg that had originally been planned for Maria Fyodorovna prior to her husband's death, but also to create an appropriate egg for Alexandra.
The Twelve Monograms egg was the first Fabergé egg given by Czar Nicholas to his mother.
It is currently held in the Hillwood Museum in Washington, D.C. as part of the Marjorie Merriweather Post Collection.
Craftsmanship
Each panel of the egg contains a cyrillic cipher of Alexander III and Maria Fedorovna, set and crowned in diamonds, set against the dark blue enamel with a design of <a style='text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 3px double;' href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=24&k=red%20gold" onmouseover="window.status='<a style='text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 3px double;' href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=24&k=red%20gold" onmouseover="window.status='red gold'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=; return true;">red gold</a>'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=; return true;">red gold</a>, rose-cut diamonds, portrait diamonds and velvet lining. It's covered by six panels each divided by bands set with rose-cut diamonds and decorated with the Imperial crown and Imperial monograms (MF) "Maria Fyodorovna" and (AIII) "Alexander III". Each monogram appears six times, with Maria's monogram appearing on the top half of the egg and Alexander's appearing on the bottom.
For a long time this egg was thought to have been the 1892 <a style='text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 3px double;' href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=24&k=gift%20for" onmouseover="window.status='gift for'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=; return true;">gift for</a> Maria and Alexander's 25th wedding anniversary. Instead it was presented to Maria in memory of Alexander.
The design was very simple because Faberge only had six months to create it. He had to rework the egg originally planned before Alexander's death and he was also making an egg for Alexandra at the same time.
Surprise
Missing in action.