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Imperial Peter the Great Easter Egg, 1903 Peter Carl Fabergé (French, born in Russia 1846-1920) Fabergé firm, Mikhail Perkhin (Workmaster); Vasilii Zuiev (Painter of miniatures) Gold, platinum, diamonds, rubies, enamel, bronze, sapphire, watercolor on ivory, rock crystal 4 1/4 by 3 1/8 (diameter) inches Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Bequest from the Estate of Lillian Thomas Pratt, 47.20.33 © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

Introduction This fall, a group of graduate students in the short story workshop associated with Virginia Commonwealth University’s Master of Fine Arts program collaborated with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts to commemorate the state’s celebration of things Russian. They were excited by the chance to work with the VMFA’s outstanding Fabergé collection. The Fabergé project follows last year’s successful collaboration, a short novel called The Beholder, which was inspired by a portrait by Elisabeth Vigée-LeBrun. As this class specialized in short fiction, and as all the writers have different styles and interests, they decided to work on an anthology of pieces inspired by different objects—the famous eggs, yes, but also the flowers, frames, and other precious objects. Some of the authors wanted to do historical research, while some wanted to explore the significance of art in contemporary life. They agreed there would be an element common to all the stories: Because Fabergé was known for building surprises into his artworks, each story would involve a secret revealed through the Fabergé object. Every story also captures a very human sense of longing for something beyond ordinary experience—whether art, spirituality, or love. Jami Dittus’s shopgirl, Mary, gazes at a Fabergé egg in a Depression-era department store, wishing for a life she’ll never know.

Marie Potoczny’s lonely narrator hopes that making a Fabergé cake in a cooking class will bring her closer to people, and Thomas Minnick’s monk wanders the Siberian steppes in search of spiritual revelation. The Red Cross egg inspires Kate Bradley’s young medical student to give her life to helping her patients.

Fabergé objects—or the pictures of them that we might take away from the museum—often express love. E. H. Hahn’s mismatched lovers try to articulate their feelings through a tourist bauble, while a postcard gone astray opens up new romantic possibilities for the characters in Matthew Baker’s story. For the tsarina portrayed by Lisa Williams, a Fabergé egg represents both her sacrifices and her fears for her son, and Richard Hofheimer’s young college professor contemplates the meaning of that sort of sacrifice when he hangs a poster of the famous pelican egg. Pictures of Fabergé flowers help connect special-needs children to their families in Lindsay A. Chudzik’s piece.

All of these stories portray the power of art to lift us out of ourselves and put us in a rarefied place where perhaps only the hint of a secret is enough to transcend the ordinary.

Susann Cokal
Assistant Professor
Department of English
Virginia Commonwealth University

The Stories

Illustration of a Girl

by Jami Dittus
In Depression-Era America, luxury was scarce, but real Fabergé eggs were on sale in department stores. Here a teenage girl refuses to let her lack of means keep her from getting a taste of the good life.

A Noble Feast

by Lisa B. Williams
The empress prepares for the unveiling of a Fabergé egg and an evening of sheer perfection. But will she succumb to the fears awakened by her son’s ill health?

To Kiss a Whisk

by Marie Potoczny
A young woman enrolls in a self-improvement cooking class to make the perfect food—an elaborate Fabergé cake. A surprise is baked inside every cake, but the biggest surprise comes from the relationships in the class.

The Pain Matrix

by Kate Bradley
A medical student working at a hospital struggles to understand her new role; by contemplating an art object, she reminds herself why she chose the profession.

Perestroika, Whatever

by E. H. Hahn
An ambivalent suitor waits for his foreign girlfriend, who communicates through a cheap tourist version of a priceless artifact.

Golden Bird, Golden Girls

by Richard Hofheimer
The Fabergé Golden Pelican Easter Egg generates a highly diverse set of reactions among a Classics professor, a museum docent, and a sextet of undergraduates.

Click

by Lindsay A. Chudzik
Kasia helps a special-needs girl uncover a medium for expression through the photographs she takes of flowers, including Fabergé reproductions.

On This Particular Tuesday Morning

by Matthew Baker
A lonely coffee shop waitress receives an anonymous postcard of a lapis lazuli egg and hopes it will lead to love. Meanwhile, the customer who sent it pines away in his corner of the shop.

The Experienced Wanderer

by T. V. C. Minnick
A Russian pilgrim and priest travels the empty roads of turn-of-the-century Siberia in search of the signs that will foretell the future for himself and his country. He’ll end up at a banquet where a precious artwork is revealed.