Easter Egg "The St. Great Martyr Alexandra"

Imperial Porcelain Factory, St. Petersburg. 1860-1870s

Painter Mikhail Kryukov (signed M.K.)

Overglaze laying, overglaze polychrome painting, enamel, gilt, diverging pattern on porcelain.

Height - 10.8 cm

The frame over the painting on the egg erroneously identifies the image as that of St. Olga, but it is the St. Great Martyr Alexandra who is depicted here, holding a palm branch and a sword. A wood panel with a painting of St. Alexandra with all her attributes, exhibited in the permanent collection of the Imperial Porcelain Factory Museum, was instrumental in correcting the error. Alexandra of Rome is a Christian saint revered as a martyr. We know about Alexandra from the life of St. George, where she is identified as an empress, the wife of Emperor Diocletian.

Alexandra, who witnessed the suffering of St. George and God's repeated miraculous succour, accepted Christ as her Saviour and openly declared her faith, for which her husband sentenced her to be beheaded.