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 jeweler Gustav Fabergé and his Danish wife Charlotte Jungstedt. His mother was the daughter of a Danish painter, and his father was a jeweler and goldsmith. Gustav Faberge's father's family were originally from La Bouteille, in the Picardy region of North Eastern France, but as Huguenots, they were forced to flee after the revocation of Edict of Nantes by King Louis XIV, increased Catholic persecution of the sect. Initially the family fled to Germany near Berlin, then in 1800 to the Baltic province of Livonia, then a part of Russia.
Carl Faberge began his education at St. Anne's Gymnasium, the German school in St. Petersburg. When he was 18 his father sent him 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. His brother, Agathon joined him and the two brothers, known for their gold and silver items, decided to "start something new." [1] They achieved their first renown at the Pan-Russian Exhibition held in Moscow in 1882.
The Royal Family
In 1885 the first Faberge Easter egg was presented to Alexander III who was seeking something beautiful and original to give to his wife, the Tsarina Maria. Its subsequent popularity led the Tsar to commission Faberge to make not only a jeweled, enameled Easter egg every year but other court accessories such as necklaces, miniatures, figure groups and animals. In addition Faberge was commissioned to make the annual Easter egg, symbolizing the Resurrection and commemorating the holy day of Easter, the most revered one of the Russian calendar.
The next tsar, Nicholas II, Alexander's heir, ordered two eggs each year, one for his mother and one for his own wife, Alexandra, a practice which continued from 1885 to 1917. After the Bolshevik Revolution the royal family, including their five children, was held captive in Siberia and executed on July 17, 1918. Many eggs were destroyed or conviscated at that time. Only Nicholas' mother, the Dowager Empress Maria Fedorovna, escaped for Europe aided by . She managed to bring with her the Order of St. George egg, the last Fabergé Imperial Easter egg she received from her son Nicholas. Admidst, intrigue, tragedy and upheaval the tradition of the eggs is temporarily lost until revived some years later by the descendants of Carl Faberge.[1]
Flight to Europe
By the turn of the century Fabergé’s company had grown to over 500 employees with branches in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Odessa, and Kiev. It produced some 150,000 objects between 1882 and 1917. In 1900 his work represented Russia at the 1900 World’s Fair in Paris and Carl Faberge received international recognition in addition to the appointment of Court ...?
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 a few years later, in 1920, he was buried beside his wife Augusta in the Cimetière du Grand Jas in Cannes, France.
Fabergé had four sons: Eugéne, Agathon, Alexander, and Nicholas.
Legacy
"The Imperial Easter Eggs - exquisite artifacts of jewels and precious metals are Faberge's finest and most famous achievement. Between 1885 and 1916 some 54 were commissioned by the Tsars Alexander and Nicholas. Each, together with the cunningly wrapped 'surprise' which was frequently concealed inside, is a masterpiece of elegance, inventiveness, ingenuity, and craftsmanship," according to Alexander von Solodkoff in the Art of Carl Faberge. (Almost one hundred years later, these eggs are valued at milions of dollars.)[2] Forty-four of the Faberge eggs are known to survive today.
After the Bolshevik Revolution the Faberge eggs were scattered throughout the world bought by royal families of various countries and those wealthy enough to collect them. There were five major collectors in the United States during the 1930s: Matilda Geddings Gray, Lillian Thomas Pratt, Marjorie Merriweather Post, India Early Minshall and Malcolm S. Forbes. Though some Imperial eggs originally sold at auction for as little as four or five hundred dollars, it took several decades for the eggs to gain recognition as magnificent works of art.
In 2006 oil and metals tycoon Viktor Vekselberg bought a collection of original eggs from the Forbes family for over $90 million and brought them back to Russia.
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
- ↑ Carl Faberge." Encyclopedia of World Biography Supplement, Vol. 21. Gale Group, 2001. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale. 2007.
- ↑ "Carl Faberge." Encyclopedia of World Biography Supplement, Vol. 21. Gale Group, 2001. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale. 2007.
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Bainbridge, Charles, 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.
- Snowman, Abraham Kenneth, Carl Fabergé: Goldsmith to the Imperial Court of Russia (Random House, 1988), ISBN 0517405024
- "Carl Faberge." Encyclopedia of World Biography Supplement, Vol. 21. Gale Group, 2001. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale. 2007.
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/
- PBS Website; Treasures of the World
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