Ruby or Pink Sapphire Surprise from the Lapis Lazuli Easter Egg (c. 1885–90): Art, History and Details

Ruby or Pink Sapphire Surprise from the Lapis Lazuli Easter Egg (c. 1885–90) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Peter Carl Fabergé (Russian, 1846–1920); House of Fabergé (Russian, 1842–1918).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This Easter egg, like the subsequent ones produced by Fabergé for the imperial family, contains a surprise when opened. In this case, the egg opens to display a yellow enameled cover, resembling an egg yolk, which then opens to reveal a tiny replica of the Russian imperial crown, containing either a ruby or a pink sapphire suspended on a chain.

Object facts

• Title: Ruby or Pink Sapphire Surprise from the Lapis Lazuli Easter Egg
• Date: c. 1885–90
• Creator attribution: Peter Carl Fabergé (Russian, 1846–1920); House of Fabergé (Russian, 1842–1918)
• Culture: Russia, St. Petersburg
• Type: Miscellaneous
• Technique: gold, enamel, lapis lazuli, pearls, diamonds, rubies
• Collection: Decorative Arts
• Department: Decorative Art and Design
• Accession number: 1966.436.c

A detail from the museum

This tiny ruby or pink sapphire dangles from a diamond encrusted crown surprise, which is a replica of the Russian imperial crown made for Empress Catherine the Great in the 1700s.

Collection credit

The India Early Minshall Collection

Further reading listed by the museum

• Hawley, Henry H. Fabergé and His Contemporaries: The India Early Minshall Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1967.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.