Just as the Russian art auctions are about to get underway in London, The Fabergé Museum in Baden Baden, Germany paid €800,000 ($1.1 million) to acquire a work by the Russian artist-jeweler Peter Karl Fabergé that clashes with his accepted legacy as the official goldsmith of the Russian imperial family. The artist is best known for the opulent Easter eggs that he created for Tsar Alexander III and family in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

This work, however, is in the style of the Russian avant-grade. The stone-cut jeweled still life depicts a leftover breakfast plate with a fried egg (made from amber and white enamel), two fish (silver — one whole, one just a skeleton), a glass of vodka (rock crystal), cigarette butts (quartz and silver), and a newspaper (silver) from 18 October 1905 — the day the Tsar signed the October Manifesto in an attempt to quell unrest in Russia by granting the people various civil liberties and democratic reforms.

— Shane Ferro

Tags: Fabergé, Russian art