Bidspirit auction | [Russian Imperial Porcelain]. Easter Egg

[Russian Imperial Porcelain]. Easter Egg ”Empress Catherine II”. Imperial Porcelain Factory, Russian Empire, late 19th – early 20th century. Porcelain, high-relief casting, liquid gold (tvoryonoye zoloto), biscuit, pearlescent lustre. The body of the egg is decorated with an elaborate ”diamond-cut” relief and covered with a rare pearlescent lustre displaying a striking iridescent sheen. Oval medallions on either side contain applied relief compositions. Dimensions : height — 9 cm, width — 6.5 cm. Condition: exceptional collector's preservation. No visible restorations, chips or wear. The gilding and lustre coating retain their original brilliance. Obverse: a bust-length profile portrait of Empress Catherine II beneath the imperial crown. The portrait is executed in matte biscuit porcelain, lending the image the effect of a marble sculpture. The medallion is set against a background of burnished liquid gold. Reverse: a high-relief depiction of the State Coat of Arms of the Russian Empire (the double-headed eagle of the 1883 pattern) in dense gilding. The combination of three highly complex techniques in a single object — relief ”scale” patterning, lustre coating and biscuit inserts — is extremely rare and characteristic of pieces produced in limited editions to special commissions. This lot belongs to the category of ”presentation” Easter eggs of a commemorative nature. The style of the portrait and coat of arms points to a jubilee edition marking a significant date in Russian history: either the centenary of the death of Catherine the Great (1896) or the tercentenary of the House of Romanov (1913), when historical retrospection was the leading theme in the arts. The level of execution (large size, detail of the relief) allows the object to be attributed as a work of the Imperial Porcelain Factory (IPF). Easter eggs bearing portraits of monarchs in the biscuit technique are prized holdings of the world's leading museums: The State Hermitage Museum (Saint Petersburg); The State Historical Museum (Moscow); The Fabergé Museum.