the white ground with matt and burnished gilding of two Imperial ciphers of Empress Maria Feodorovna between stylised strapwork borders, 11cm high excluding later wood stand

Provenance: The Dickinson family of St Petersburg, thence by descent to the vendor.

Six Dickinson children, including three sisters, were born in late 19th century St Petersburg to English parents. Their father, whose family had been connected with Russia for three generations, ran the Phoenix Ironworks in the Viborg quarter and until 1905 the family lived at some ease in a large house nearby. The unrest and economic crisis of the early 1900s however resulted in the complete failure of his investments, the family forced to depart for their mother's home in Lancashire. Pining for the country they considered home, by 1911 the three sisters had all returned to Russia, their aunt in St Petersburg finding them work as governesses.

Their stories are related in a diary kept from 1916-18 by one sister, Miss Daisy. This diary was edited by her daughter, the vendor's mother, and published as 'Miss Daisy's Secret Russian Diary' (edited by Muriel Delahaye, Troubador Publishing, Leicester, 2017). The diary opens at Easter 1916, recording the gift of the diary itself, money and 'four small silver easter eggs'.

Another sister, Miss Ida, worked for Aylia and Alexander Pistolkors. Aylia was a sister of Anna Verubova, Empress Alexandra's beloved Lady-in-Waiting, and Alexander Pistolkors a stepson of Grand Duke Paul, the Tsar's uncle. Whilst the third sister, Miss May, spent most of her time on her Swedish/Russian employers' estate in Finland, the other two were busy in town or at the coast, pursued by a number of suitors. Ida in particular was a frequent visitor at Tsarkoe Selo. On 11th December 1916 Ida and Daisy were taken, somewhat unwillingly, to a supper with Rasputin at his flat on Gorokhovaya Street, Daisy's diary revealing that he repeated his prophecy 'If I am killed,... the Romanov family will also die.' Following Rasputin's assassination, on 31st December the diary records that 'In spite of all the upset about Rasputin Ida still received her Christmas card from the Tsarina', the book (ibid) illustrating this postcard, still in the family's possession, showing the message: 'To Miss Ida / with Kisses / Greetings & Best Wishes for 1916 / Alexandra'. In one of her last surviving letters, written to Anna Verubova from captivity in Tobolsk, the Empress asks after both Anna's sister Aylia and the governess: 'Miss Ida is still with her I hope.'

By the start of 1918 the sisters had all managed to make their way back to Britain. Ida had been given permission to leave Russia in May 1917, after an interview with Lenin himself. Daisy and May remained, living through the danger and privations of revolutionary St Petersburg, until a meeting with Trotsky on 29th November meant they could make preparations to leave, finally getting away in mid December. Although Daisy later married, the other two remained spinsters, ending their days running a boarding house on the Lancashire coast at Cleveleys, their precious relics of their days in Imperial Russia passing eventually to the vendor's mother.

For a Russian gold chain with egg pendants and a Fabergé egg pendant, all with the same provenance, see Olympia Auctions, 'Jewellery & Watches', 21 November 2024, lots 318 & 319.

For other Imperial Porcelain Manufactory eggs with the same strapwork borders see: Christie's, London, 26 November 2002, lot 116 and Rouillac, Château d'Artigny, 10 June 2018, lot 94