The Napoleonic egg is one of a series of fifty-two jewelled eggs, a part of the special 'Imperial collection', created for the Russian Imperial family from 1885 to 1916, under the supervision of Peter Carl Faberge. The Napoleonic egg was created in 1912 for the last Tsar of Russia NicholasII as a gift to his mother the Dowager Empress Maria Fyodorovna.
The egg's design commemorates the centenary of the Battle of Borodino during Napoleon's 1812 invasion of Russia.
The 'surprise' contains six miniature screen depicting in watercolor six regiments of which Maria Fyodorovna was an honorary colonel. The screens itself are made from translucent green emeralds, rose-cut diamonds and white enamel.
Today, the egg is part of the Matilda Geddings Gray collection of Faberge and currently resides at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, USA.
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