 In 1885, the House of Fabergé was bestowed with the coveted title ""Goldsmith by special appointment to the Imperial Crown"", beginning an association with the Russian tsars.In 1885, Tsar Alexander III commissioned the House of Fabergé to make an Easter egg as a gift for his wife, the Empress Maria Feodorovna.Its "shell" is enamelled on gold to represent a normal hen’s egg.