A spectacular Fabergé masterpiece – a diamond-encrusted egg from which a crowing cockerel pops up and flaps its wings – was sold for £9 million yesterday, breaking the world auction record for the jeweller, any Russian decorative object and any timepiece.

Such is its importance, rarity and dazzling craftsmanship that it sparked intense bidding from Russian oligarchs at Christie’s after its discovery in a private collection.

A saleroom overflowing with hundreds of onlookers fell silent as the auctioneer announced that Lot 55 was next. The bidding lasted for more than five minutes as six determined collectors fought to acquire it.

The piece, which was not publicly documented when it was made in 1902 for the Rothschild family, went to an unidentified private Russian buyer.

The previous record for a Russian object was established by the Fabergé Winter Egg sold at Christie’s in New York in 2002 for £6.62 million.

Because these eggs are among the most impressive and exclusive works of art to be made, yesterday’s sale was always expected to include Russia’s super-rich.

Anthony Philips, the International Director of Silver and Russian Works of Art at Christie’s, said: “Nobody could ignore the fact that the Russian market is strong, to put it mildly.” He described the egg as “one of the very best of Fabergé’s greatest creations”, adding that the sale was “one of the most exciting moments of my 40 years at Christie’s”.

Noting that this one was signed and dated 1902 by Karl Fabergé, he said that it encapsulated every characteristic that defined a true masterpiece – “authorship, craftsmanship, provenance, condition and rarity”.

The exquisite eggs were first commissioned by Tsar Alexander III in the 1880s as Easter gifts for his wife, the Tsarina Maria Feodorovna. The Tsar asked Fabergé, a craftsman whose work was admired by the Empress, to create an object of spectacular beauty. He went on to commission a unique egg for his wife every Easter, insisting that each must contain a surprise befitting an Empress.

Although 50 were made and delivered to the Imperial Family, not all survive. The item sold yesterday was one of no more than 12 examples known to have been made to Imperial standards for people other than the Russian royals.

The egg, which is also a clock, is exceptionally large at 31cm (1ft) tall and is enamelled in a translucent pink that is difficult to create. Every hour a diamond-set cockerel pops up from inside the egg, flaps his wings four times and then nods his head three times while opening and shutting his beak and crowing. Each performance lasts about 15 seconds before a bell rings to mark the hour.

Decorated with symbols of love, it was a present from Beatrice Ephrussi, the wife of a banker from Odessa, Russia, to Germaine Halphen, on the occasion of the latter’s engagement to Beatrice’s younger brother, Baron Edouard de Rothschild.

Most of the sale proceeds will go to a charitable foundation that primarily supports classical music causes.

Oligarchs and art

— In 2004 Viktor Vekselberg – Russia’s ninth-richest man, with a fortune estimated at £5.2 billion – is said to have spent more than £55 million buying nine eggs and 180 other Fabergé pieces from the Forbes family

— Russia has 53 billionaires, with a combined wealth of £140 billion.

— The Tate is among international museums courting the Russian tycoons for their patronage

Source: Times database

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