The legend says that Alma Pihl (1888-1976) found inspiration for her legendary snowflake jewellery on a cold winter's day in St. Petersburg while working in her studio at Fabergé. She witnessed how snow crystals formed intricate patterns on the windowpanes, and suddenly she had found the motif she was searching for. Carl Fabergé had just been commissioned by Emanuel Nobel to create a larger number of smaller pieces of jewellery that Nobel could use as gifts for guests at his business dinners. Alma Pihl's small wintry masterpieces in the form of brooches and pendants became so appealing and striking that even the Tsar sought her help when he commissioned the 1913 Easter egg for his family. The result was one of Fabergé's most beautiful Easter eggs, the so-called Winter Egg, and the following year, Alma Pihl was again commissioned by the Tsar to design the annual Easter gift. This masterful artwork, known as the Mosaic Egg, is also one of Fabergé's most famous objects. The vividly coloured egg is an almost overwhelming charming blend with its folk motif and the luxurious craftsmanship that produced the barely 10 cm tall gem-set egg. The idea for the motif, highly stylised flowers in various colours, came to Alma Pihl when she observed her mother-in-law, as was her custom, one evening engaged in cross-stitch embroidery, just like most women of that time. After the Russian Revolution, Alma Pihl settled in Finland and worked as a primary school teacher, rarely speaking of her previous life as a designer at Fabergé. In December 2025, Alma Pihl's Winter Egg was sold at Christie's for over USD 30,000,000.