Fabergé-Style Porcelain Egg Trinket Box with Birds and Grapes

A pretty hinged porcelain trinket box in the shape of an egg, standing on three curved gold feet. The glossy white body is decorated all over with colourful folk-style motifs: golden birds with gilded tail feathers, pink and blue blossoms, bunches of purple grapes and green leaves, all outlined in gold. A gilt metal band with a beaded rim and a small clasp runs round the middle, and the top flips open on its hinge to reveal a smooth white interior. It's just right for rings, earrings or a keepsake, and it's lovely on a dressing table. It's in good condition with bright gilding.

Jewelled eggs like this are a nod to Fabergé. In 1885, Emperor Alexander III of Russia commissioned Carl Fabergé to make an Easter egg as a gift for his wife, Empress Maria Feodorovna. That first creation, the Hen Egg, opened to reveal a golden yolk with a tiny gold hen inside. It began a series of more than 50 Imperial eggs, now some of the most famous treasures in the world.