History: 

The nephrite egg is adorned with five miniature portraits of the children of Tsar Nicholas II and Alexandra Fedorovna, and contains a replica of the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoe Selo. The oval portraits of the children are framed in diamonds. Above each portrait is a crowned diamond monogram and the first initial of the child represented: Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, Alexei. The replica of the Alexander Palace and its adjoining gardens is concealed within the egg. 

The Alexander Palace, even though quite modest, was the Imperial family’s preferred residence at Tsarkoe Selo. The egg was presented to Alexandra Fedorovna at Easter in 1908 as a gift from Nicholas II and housed in Alexandra Fedorovna’s Mauve Sitting Room in the Alexander Palace from 1913-1916.