A century after enchanting the Romanov court, Fabergé’s Winter Egg, a masterpiece by Alma Theresia Pihl, is poised to re-emerge in the spotlight of auction. On December 2, 2025, Christie’s London will offer this legendary piece for sale, considered one of the most poetic and refined ever to emerge from the imperial workshops of Saint Petersburg.
An Imperial Gift for an Empress
In 1913, on the occasion of the Romanov dynasty’s tercentenary, Tsar Nicholas II commissioned Fabergé to create an egg of icy beauty for his mother, Empress Maria Feodorovna. The “Winter Egg” was designed to embody the fragile magic of the Russian winter — that suspended moment when nature seems frozen before rebirth.
Its price, 24,600 rubles, made it one of the most expensive imperial eggs ever created. But it is primarily its design, entirely dedicated to light, that distinguishes it: a mineral poem where every detail reflects the perfection of craftsmanship and the intelligence of the material.
The Architecture of Frost
Crafted from rock crystal, platinum, and rose-cut diamonds, the Winter Egg evokes the first frost patterns on a windowpane in the early morning. It is believed to have been inspired by Russia’s harshest winter in 25 years, in 1911-1912 (-35°C in St. Petersburg).
Its translucent surface is engraved with frost motifs, punctuated by sparkling crystals. The crystal base mimics a melting block of ice, where platinum settings unfurl like frozen streams.
Inside, a platinum and diamond basket is hidden, filled with anemones sculpted from white quartz, their leaves of nephrite, and their pistils of demantoid garnet.
In total, the piece contains over 3,200 diamonds — but the essence lies elsewhere: in this alchemy between cold and bloom, where winter becomes a promise of life.
Alma Pihl, the Woman Behind the Miracle
The soul of the “Winter Egg” bears a name that history long kept in the shadows: Alma Theresia Pihl.
Born in 1888 into a dynasty of Finnish goldsmiths, daughter of Knut Oscar Pihl and Fanny Florentina Holmström, Alma grew up in a world of art and meticulous craftsmanship. Her uncle, Albert Holmström, then managed one of Fabergé’s main workshops in Saint Petersburg.
It was with him that she began her career:
“Alma Pihl began working with her uncle, drawing ornaments for the design department’s archives,” writes Tatiana Fabergé in Fabergé: A Comprehensive Reference Book.
She envisioned jewelry as winter landscapes: delicate, silent, luminous. Her creations: the Snowflake brooch, the Mosaic Egg, and the “Frost” pendants, bear witness to a fascination with crystals, light, and the rhythms of nature.
Alma Theresia Pihl-Klee’s family in Helsinki in the 1940s. On the wall, one can see the carpet that inspired her idea for the “Mosaic Egg.”
It is said that she found her inspiration by observing, every morning, the ice patterns on her workshop window. These ephemeral designs became sketches under her pencil, then wonders of goldsmithing.
A Destiny Between Exile and Rediscovery
After the 1917 Revolution, the “Winter Egg” was confiscated by the Soviet government, along with other court treasures.
It then passed through several hands: a London antique dealer, British collectors, before disappearing for nearly twenty years.
When it reappeared in 1994 at a Christie’s sale in Geneva, the art world held its breath. The egg then fetched 7.3 million Swiss francs, an absolute record for a Fabergé work.
In 2002, another sale in New York brought the price to $9.6 million.
Today, it returns to the market for the third time, estimated at over £20 million. With only nine imperial eggs still in private hands, this event is more than just a sale: it is a reappearance, almost a resurrection.
The Legacy of a Visionary
The “Winter Egg” embodies the perfect union between the rigor of the North and the grace of the feminine hand.
Alma Pihl, through her intuition and sense of light, managed to crystallize the ephemeral.
In her works, nature is not frozen: it breathes, transforms, and is reborn.
Brooch Alma Theresia Pihl designed this brooch in platinum, diamonds, demantoid garnets, rubies, emeralds, topazes, other precious stones, and pearls, delicately set in a platinum mounting. It recalls the Imperial Mosaic Easter Egg of 1914.
“Her original ideas soon earned her recognition as a true designer in her own right within Fabergé’s main team,” Tatiana Fabergé further wrote.
The Winter Egg, beyond its brilliance, is a metaphor: that of a vanished world, frozen in crystal and memory, but revived by the timeless beauty of a female artist.
Christie’s – Fabergé Sale, December 2025
Imperial “Winter Egg” – Alma Theresia Pihl, Fabergé, 1913
Materials: rock crystal, platinum, diamonds, quartz, nephrite, demantoid garnet
Estimate: £20-25 million (22-27 million Swiss Francs)