What is the name of the Fabergé egg that features a model of the Gatchina Palace?

The Fabergé egg featuring a model of Gatchina Palace is called the Gatchina Palace egg. It was made in 1901 under the supervision of Peter Carl Fabergé for Tsar Nicholas II, who presented it to his mother, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, at Easter.

The richly decorated egg opens to reveal a removable miniature gold replica of Gatchina Palace. The palace was originally built for Count Grigory Orlov and later acquired by Tsar Paul I. By the time of the egg’s presentation, Gatchina was associated with Maria Feodorovna as one of her residences outside Saint Petersburg.

The miniature is surrounded by carefully worked landscape details, including cannons, a flag, and a statue of Paul I. The outer shell combines gold, enamel, silver-gilt, portrait diamonds, rock crystal, and seed pearls. Mikhail Perkhin, one of Fabergé’s leading workmasters, oversaw its production.

It is easy to confuse this egg with other Imperial eggs named for Russian palaces, such as the Peter the Great or Moscow Kremlin eggs. The Gatchina Palace egg is one of two Imperial Fabergé eggs in the Walters Art Museum’s collection in Baltimore, where it has been displayed since the early twentieth century.