Glass Egg
Who is egg-cited for Tiny Tuesday?
This clambroth-type glass egg is festooned with golden velvet and a tooled leather band. Each side is applied with a decal of a fashionably attired gentleman and lady. The piece was descended in the Buffinton-Aldrich family in Fall River and, according to family tradition, was acquired in Russia in the 19th century.
In Russian tradition, people celebrate the Easter holiday by presenting colorful eggs to one another. By the turn of the 20th century, these decorated eggs were a staple in Russian decorative and applied arts and could be made of various materials. Some eggs were traditionally hand painted, while others had applied ornamentation, such as velvet, gems, or paper.
Perhaps the best-known Russian Easter eggs are those created by the House of Fabergé. Under the supervision of Peter Carl Fabergé, 50 eggs were created for the Russian Imperial family between 1885 to 1916. Tsar Alexander III began the Royal tradition when he commissioned an elaborate, jewel encrusted egg for his wife, Tsarina Maria Feodorovna. His son, Tsar Nicholas II would continue to have beautiful eggs made each year until the fall of Imperial Russia.
This egg, although simpler in style, continues that noble tradition.