Pelican, Imperial Fabergé egg at Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, United States.

The Pelican egg is an ornately crafted object made of red gold with diamonds and vitreous enamel, standing about 10 centimeters tall and topped by a pelican figure. Inside are eight interconnected oval frames, each containing a hand-painted miniature scene on ivory.

This egg was created in 1898 by master jeweler Michael Perkhin as a gift from Tsar Nicholas II to his mother, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. Its creation was part of a long tradition of royal gifts that showcased the artistic excellence of the Fabergé workshop.

The pelican was Maria Feodorovna's personal emblem, shown feeding three chicks in a nest; in Christian tradition the bird pierces its own flesh to feed its young, linking it to Christ's sacrifice. The eight ivory miniatures, painted by court miniaturist Johannes Zehngraf, show charitable institutions she patronised, including the Smolny and Ekaterina Institutes, with each institution's name written on the back of its panel.

The egg is displayed in a climate-controlled gallery space at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, where visitors can view it from a safe distance. Since it is a delicate historical object, it is protected behind glass and cannot be touched.

The eight miniatures inside depict specific favorite institutions of the Dowager Empress, making this gift a personal tribute to her charitable work. Each oval painting was created individually, showing the considerable hand-painted effort invested in this royal commission.