Easter egg “Smolny Cathedral”
Easter egg “Smolny Cathedral”
Materials – gold, silver, diamonds, rosettes, sapphire, pearl, turquoise, cachalong, transparent enamel against a guilloched background, black imperial jade.
Height of the egg: 32.5 cm
Total weight: 4.5 kg
2010
Work from the series “Great Cathedrals of Russia.”
The surface of the egg is covered in transparent enamel against a guilloched background. Part of the surface of the egg is rendered in the form of a diamond grid depicting the iconic historical buildings of St. Petersburg – St. Isaac’s Cathedral, the Stock Exchange and Admiralty, the Alexander Column, the Rostral Column, and the arch of the General Staff Building.
The depictions of the buildings are decorated in more than 6,000 rosettes.
The cathedral building is made of azure turquoise and white stone – cachalong. The copious amounts of fine gold details – window openings, door openings, cupolas and crosses – were rendered under a microscope. The cupolas of the cathedral are covered in transparent enamel against a guilloched background. The cathedral building rotates freely inside the egg, making it possible to view all of the details of the composition. The egg stand is made of black imperial jade and trimmed in gold.
The studio collective worked on creating the egg for more than 2 years.
Stonecutters A. Petrov and Y. Artamonov, jewelers A. Nikishov, V. Shvilpo, N. Davydov, setter S. Sakharov, enameller I. Maximova.
Idea, technical supervision and design – A.G. Ananov.