Peter Carl Fabergé
Peter Carl Fabergé original name Carl Gustavovich Fabergé(May 30, 1846–September 24, 1920) was a Russian jeweler, best known for the famous Fabergé eggs, he designed for the Russian royal family until he was forced to flee the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 when communism gained a foothold in Russia. Although he attempted to estabish himself in Europe he never truly recuperated from his forced exile and died in Switzerland.
Faberge considered himself more than a jeweler; he felt his unique creations, especially the eggs representative of Easter and made of precious metals and gemstones, bordered on artistry. Recently, a new generation of Faberges, have returned to the more favorable cimate of the present day Russian Federation and have opened a store on Moscow's Red Square bringing full circle the legacy of their progenitor. Although considered extravagant by the old guard of the Soviet Union, the original Faberge eggs are valued not only for their beauty but for their historical documentation of Russian history during the reign of two Tsars - Alexander III and Nicholas II.
Early life in Russia
He was born in St. Petersburg to the jeweller Gustav Fabergé and his Danish wife Charlotte Jungstedt. Originally from La Bouteille, France, Gustav Fabergé’s father’s family were Huguenots, who fled after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, initially to Germany near Berlin, then in 1800 to the Baltic province of Livonia, then a part of Russia.
Young Faberge began his education at St. Anne's Gymnasium, the German school in St. Petersburg. In 1860, the family moved again, to Dresden, and shortly thereafter, the teenage Carl went on a trip abroad where he was apprenticed to a jeweler at the House of Friedman in Frankfurt. In 1864, he returned to St. Petersburg and joined his father’s business, taking over its management in 1872. Carl and his younger brother Agaton achieved their first acclaim at the Pan-Russian Exhibition held in Moscow in 1882.
Under the reign of Tsar Alexander
Three years later, Tsar Alexander III appointed him an official Court Supplier, as a reward for making him a splendid Easter egg to give to his wife. Thereafter, Fabergé made an egg each year for the Tsar to give to the Tsaritsa Maria. The next tsar, Nicholas II, ordered two eggs each year, one for his mother and one for his own wife, Alexandra, a practice which continued from 1885 to 1917.
He became the Tsar’s Court Goldsmith in 1885. The Imperial Easter eggs were a sideline; Fabergé made many more objects ranging from silver tableware to fine jewelry. Fabergé’s company became the largest in Russia, with 500 employees and branches in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Odessa, Kiev and London. It produced some 150,000 objects between 1882 and 1917. In 1897 the Swedish court appointed Fabergé Court Goldsmith. In 1900 his work represented Russia at the 1900 World’s Fair in Paris.
Flight to Europe
In 1917, amidst the chaos of the October Revolution, he sold his shares in the company to his employees and fled Russia. He went first to Finland, with assistance from the British Embassy, and then to Wiesbaden, Germany making stops in Riga, Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg. Fabergé and his wife moved to Bellevue Hotel in Lausanne, Switzerland. When he died, he was buried beside his wife Augusta in the Cimetière du Grand Jas in Cannes, France.
Fabergé had four sons: Eugéne (1874-1960), Agathon (1876-1951), Alexander (1877-1952) and Nicholas (1884-1939). Agathon fled to Finland via Terijoki and Viipuri. He settled in Kulosaari in Helsinki and studied philately and died there. He and his wife Maria are buried at the Orthodox cemetery of Helsinki. Their son Oleg Faberge (1923-1993) is also buried there.
Legacy
His sons Eugené Fabergé and Alexander Fabergé founded the successor of Fabergé Co.; as of 1989 it was owned by the global cosmetics company Unilever and the jewelry licence was given to the jeweller Victor Mayer. The Fabergé workmaster continues the legacy of the famous brand and is its sole legal successor. Sarah Fabergé and Tatiana Fabergé are the last surviving descendants of Peter Carl. In 2007 Faberge Co. was acquired from Unilever by the Russian diamond mining company Pallinghurst Resources LLP. The cosmetics products were discontinued and the company was reestablished as a luxury brand featuring fine jewelry and precious stones.
Gallery
- Coronation Egg.jpg
Coronation Egg
Equestrian Egg
Train Egg
- Kokoshkafaberge.jpg
The Hen Egg
Memory of Azov Egg
Moscow Kremlin Egg
- Relógio Fabergé.3.jpg
Relógio Fabergé
Faberge salt and pepper grinder
Notes
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Charles Bainbridge, Peter Carl Fabergé: Goldsmith and Jeweller to the Russian Imperial Court. His Life and Work (1949, reprinted 1971). Bainbridge was an employee of Fabergé who managed the firm's London branch.
- Abraham Kenneth Snowman, Carl Fabergé: Goldsmith to the Imperial Court of Russia (Random House, 1988), ISBN 0517405024
External links
- Empire of Eggs, Svetlana Graudt, Moscow Times, November 18, 2005
- Fabergé family site of Theo Fabergé and Sarah Fabergé, descendants of Carl Fabergé
- Wartski London Historic Fabergé specailists
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