BY THE IMPERIAL PORCELAIN FACTORY, ST PETERSBURG, CIRCA 1890-1900

The present egg exemplifies designs by the Imperial Porcelain Factory which use high-temperature coloured glazes to contrast with gilt Imperial ciphers. Oxblood (or sang de boeuf) glaze was the most costly and attractive of the high temperature glazes used by the factory. K.F. Klever, the head of the Factory laboratory from 1845 to 1910, commenced experiments to produce vibrant red glazes in 1888 and the technique continued to be perfected by his successor E.A. Krangal. A very similar example of the Imperial Porcelain Factory's production of oxblood glazed eggs with the gilt cypher of Maria Fedorovna is illustrated in T. Kudriavtseva and H. Whitbeck, Russian Imperial Easter Eggs, London, 2001, p. 48, No. 13.