Shaped miniature frame of silver-gilt with translucent blue guilloché enamel border with chased four-colour gold mounts of foliate garlands and swags with a ribbon crest and set with five cabochon rubies; the bezel is of opaque white enamel with gold ties, inset with photograph of Tsarevitch Alexis.

Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna jointly bought this frame on 21 June 1906 for 106 roubles. It contains a contemporary photograph of their youngest child and only son, Alexis, then aged almost 2. By that time, Alexis had been diagnosed with haemophilia. Many pieces of Fabergé, including three Imperial Easter Eggs, were commissioned by Nicholas and Alexandra to commemorate his birth and different stages in his short life (1904–18). The Colonnade Egg of 1910, now in the Royal Collection, is surmounted by a cupid representing Alexis. This silver-gilt frame is enamelled in pale blue guilloché in a geometric design and applied with ribbon-tied floral swags and a laurel wreath in four-colour gold set with cabochon rubies.

Mark of Viktor Aarne; silver mark of 88 zolotniks (1896-1908); Fabergé in Cyrillic characters

Text adapted from Fabergé in the Royal Collection