(Photo courtesy Joanna Wrangham - Winter Palace Research - Зимний дворец)

Thanks to Joanna Wrangham's research on the Winter Palace, I now have an image of the cabinet where Empress Alexandra's Imperial Easter Eggs were kept, on the photo above, to the right of the Emperor!

I am really happy with this photo for of course we know how in the Alexander Palace Maple Room corner cabinet the Eggs were kept, and I always hoped for a similar photo for the Winter Palace.

As you can read in the blog, the date this photo was made is not yet known, but Joanna places it c1899-1900. I however can clearly see the 1900 Transsiberian Railway Egg in the vitrine (large white arrow), so the photo must be made after Easter 1900.

For me, on the top shelf, the most left item is the 1899 Madonna Lily Clock Egg (small white arrow), with the white band with the flowers on top; and perhaps the 1896 Egg with Revolving Miniatures on the same shelf on the right.

An inventory dated 1909 is known (see below) describing on which shelf the Eggs where placed. From the enlargement above, it looks as if the Eggs at the time the photo was made, where differently arranged, as in the inventory the 1900 Transsiberian Railway Egg is being described placed on the top shelf.

Winter Palace inventory 1909

We know from an inventory of articles belonging to Their Imperial Majesties, compiled by Her Imperial Majesty's Inspector of Premises of the Imperial Winter Palace, N. Dementiev, that on the 10th of April 1909, the following ten Imperial Easter Eggs were present in the Corner showcase between the door leading into the bedroom and the window in the Winter Palace. [1]

First shelf from top:

Second shelf from top:

Bottom shelf:

Alexandra Feodorovna received 20 Imperial Easter Eggs, starting in 1895 with the Rosebud Egg and ending in 1916 with the Steel Military Egg. Below are pictured all twenty Eggs.

1895	1896	1897	1898	1899
1900	1901	1902	1903	1906
1907	1908	1909	1910	1911
1912	1913	1914	1915	1916

[1] Fabergé, Proler and Skurlov, The Fabergé Imperial Easter Eggs, 1997, appendix 3, page 253.

Update January 2020

A much better photo was posted by Joanna Wrangham on her Winter Palace blog, showing family members Grand Duchess Xenia (sister to Emperor Nicholas II) and Grand Duchess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (then married to the Empress' brother Grand Duke of Hesse Ernest Louis) during a visit early in 1901. For more photos and details of this visit, see Joanna's Winter Palace Research blog.

(Courtesy Joanna Wrangham Winter Palace Research)

On the top shelf of this picture one can now clearly see on the right the 1896 Egg with Revolving Miniatures and in between the two Eggs on this top shelf, the famous 1896 Imperial Lilies of the Valley basket.

This basket is part of the Matilda Geddings Gray Foundation, and is, as well as her three Imperial Easter Eggs, currently on loan to the New York Met Museum.

With thanks to Salvador Saldaña for bringing this blog story to my attention!

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Alexandra Feodorovna's Imperial Easter Eggs - The Maple Room Corner Cabinet

Empress Marie Feodorovna's Imperial Easter Eggs

Joanna's blog, Winter Palace Research - Зимний дворец - great source for everything about the Winter Palace.