The newly identified clock egg, 1887
Closed (above) and opened (below)
But here is the kicker. The egg, which contained a Vacheron Constantin watch, seems to be the very first of the Tsar Imperial Fabergé eggs to feature a working clock; in fact it is one of the very few clock eggs that have been located at all. You can examine those that have been identified at Mieks Faberge Eggs.
Let's examine the imperial Blue Serpent Clock Egg 1887 made by Mikhail Perkhin, one of the most important Fabergé workmasters ever. This egg stood on a base of gold that was painted in opalescent white enamel. The panels of the base featured motifs of raised gold in four colours, representing the arts and sciences. A serpent, set with diamonds, coiled around the stand connecting the base to the egg and up toward the centre of the egg. The serpent's head and tongue pointed to the hour which was indicated in roman numerals on a white band. This band rotated within the egg to indicate the time, rather than the serpent rotating around the egg. The egg was enamelled in translucent blue and had diamond-studded gold bands ringing the egg. On each side of the egg a sculpted gold handle was attached.
Blue Serpent Clock Egg 1887
The Duchess of Marlborough’s Pink Serpent Egg 1902 was similar. Once again made by Mikhail Perkhin, this clock egg was made in enamelled translucent rose pink over a guilloche ground, the white enamel chapter ring with diamond-set Roman numerals between borders of seed pearls. The top of the Egg was applied with varicoloured gold floral swags and diamond-set ribbon bows.
The newly discovered clock egg will be on display at Wartski’s London showroom in the middle of April 2014, the first time it will have been seen in public for 110 years.