An egg decorated in Wedgwood style. End of the 19-th century.

As a result of Peter the Great's reforms, materials new for Russia appeared in porcelain, glass, papier-mache and contributed to the development of the art of making Russian Easter eggs. While in 1799 the Imperial Porcelain Factory manufactured 254 eggs, in 1802 it produced 960. In the early 1900s the same factory employed approximately 30 persons, including trainees, who were manufacturing 3308 eggs annually. For the 1914 Easter, it produced 3991 porcelain eggs, and in 1916, 15,365. For every Easter Sunday, the factory manufactured Easter eggs for the members of the imperial family "to be handed out" at the time of congratulating each other on Easter day. Czars themselves sometimes acted as examiner thus, Alexander III recommended that eggs be painted not only in colors but also in ornaments, and he liked glass samples of one piece with engraved designs.