by Stacey Paretti Rase

Fabled monarchies, glittering courts, fantastic jewels, rich interiors and exquisite objects—such is the subject matter of the artwork of Peter Carl Fabergé. No other 19th century goldsmith is as well known internationally today as he, and no branch of his collected works more immediately identified as his exquisite Easter Egg Collection.

For more than 20 years, the New Orleans Museum of Art has been quite fortunate to display the fabulous Matilda Geddings Gray Foundation collection of his oeuvre. The pieces are on permanent loan and have proved to be the museum’s most enduringly popular exhibit. So popular, in fact, that a special gallery housing the collection was redesigned in conjunction with the museum’s major expansion in 1993. At that time, an extensive, definitive catalog of the pieces was published, “Masterpieces of Fabergé,” written by NOMA’s Curator of Decorative Arts, John W. Keefe.

Just who was this Matilda Geddings Gray, whose collection was so generously offered to NOMA in 1983? A native of Lake Charles, Miss Gray was an American aristocrat who possessed not only great taste, but also the means to acquire nearly any object that struck her fancy. An avid traveler, she first encountered the works of Fabergé at a 1933 display of Russian art in Chicago. She was immediately drawn to the delicate pieces, and was at once determined to assemble a Fabergé collection. Although his eggs are the most widely renowned of Fabergé’s creations, Miss Gray’s assortment of pieces also included functional objects, such as costume accessories, desk objects, smoking accoutrements, hardstone animals and floral compositions. According to Keefe, after her death in 1971, the entire collection passed to a foundation bearing her name, with the intention that the objects be placed on public display. Following an extensive tour of American museums, the collection found its home in New Orleans.

The story of how Fabergé became so inextricably known for his production of the famous egg collection is quite interesting. The egg has long been associated with Easter—a symbol of life and death, reminding us of the Resurrection and a reawakening of the earth. The Easter holiday has historically been considered most important on the Russian Orthodox religious calendar and is celebrated with enthusiasm. During the holiday, painted eggs are commonly given as gifts. And since the early 16th century, the more elaborate the materials used to produce the egg implied the more wealth its giver possessed—with Russian royalty giving and receiving the most ornate egg designs of all. In 1884, Tsar Alexander III worked closely with Fabergé on the creation of a small “Egg-and-Hen Egg” for presentation to Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. This initial Imperial Egg was modest in comparison to Fabergé’s later creations, yet the Easter gift was so successful that Alexander III decided to present an annual oviform present created by Fabergé to his wife. Tsar Nicholas II then continued that tradition upon his accession to the throne in 1894. According to Keefe’s research, Fabergé was under enormous pressure to devise a gift both beautiful and totally original when Nicholas II commanded in 1894 that he produce two eggs annually—one for his mother, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, as had been his father’s custom, and one for his wife, the Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna.

Keefe says that it is not surprising that Matilda Geddings Gray would have wished to include the Imperial Easter Eggs in her collection, as she was an avid and sophisticated collector. Each Imperial Easter Egg was of monumental quality consistent with late 19th century and early 20th century design. During her lifetime, Miss Gray purchased four undisputed Imperial eggs, of which three remain in the collection of her foundation: The Imperial Caucasus Egg, the Imperial Danish Palaces Egg and the Imperial Napoleonic Egg.

Crafted in St. Petersburg, the brilliant Imperial Caucasus Egg was a gift from Alexander III to his wife, Maria Feodorovna, on Easter Sunday 1893. Their son, the Grand Duke George Alexandrovich, had been sent to live in the healthy air of the Caucasus Mountains after being diagnosed with tuberculosis; therefore, the egg presents detailed views of Abastuman, the Imperial lodge built there. The piece is of the late Louis XV style, bearing gold rose garlands placed over a crimson guilloche background. Pearls softly gleam at the sides of each oval aperture. Located behind the hinged oval cover is a view of the aforementioned hunting lodge.

The splendid Imperial Danish Palaces Egg shows Fabergé’s talent in historic French Court design. Hallmarks of the piece include delicate floral wreaths, a rich rosette at the egg’s apex and the surprise screen found inside. It is said to have been created in the mauve color to please Tsarina Alexandra, whose favorite chamber was a boudoir of the same shade. An unusual design of equilateral crosses, formed of fine dots of identical diameter, provides the egg’s interesting and complex background. A ten-panel screen folds neatly into a crimson velvet pocket in the lower portion of the egg. The panels display an Imperial Russian yacht and royal Danish residences.

The subject matter of Fabergé’s eggs dealt oftentimes with Russian historical events. Such an example is the Imperial Napoleonic Egg, crafted in 1912. Keefe notes that although the French Emperor Napoléon I wreaked havoc upon the Russian Empire, his monumental formal Empire style was exceedingly fashionable in Imperial Russia. This particular egg was crafted at the centenary of Napoléon’s defeat by the Russian army in 1812. Like the Danish Palaces Egg, the surprise here is a multiple-panel folding screen found inside. The elaborate screens of fragile ivory panels depict the regiments of which the Dowager Empress was honorary colonel.

Keefe concludes that the enormous popularity of Fabergé in the United States has to do with two factors: the traditional attraction of democratic Americans to the aristocracies of Europe and the sale of former Imperial possessions by the Soviet government during the 1920s. By the time of Miss Gray’s death in the summer of 1971, a fascination with Fabergé on the part of Americans of means had become a near-mania. Miss Gray should be considered a pioneer, as her exhibited collection continues to ensure that Fabergé remains a household name.