Faberge is coming to London in 2021!!!

Carl Fabergé (1846-1920) was born into a St Petersburg family that created jewellery. Young Carl, trained in Russia and Germany, was in the right place and the right time. When he took over the family bus­in­ess, he created a firm that became closely linked to the romance, glamour and tragedy of the Romanovs. 

Romanov Tercentenary Egg,

made from gold, silver, diamonds 1913

Moscow Krem­lin Museums

Four factors led to his success, bringing him to the att­ention of the Russian Imperial Court:

1] His work co­incid­ed with the rise and fall of  the Romanovs, from their vast wealth to their abrupt deaths.
2] He had great creative skills
3] He had beautiful crafts­manship and
4] He used precious metals and gorgeous gemstones.

He worked in the Hermitage's Jewellery Gallery and by the mid-1880s was named goldsmith and jeweller to the Russian court. His works were first displayed at the 1882 Pan-Slavic exhibition held in Moscow under the patronage of Czar Alexander III. See examples of the work from the 1880s.

The Alexander Palace Egg, Fabergé,

gold, diamonds, rubies 1908

Moscow Krem­lin Museums

Fabergé began making Imperial Easter eggs when Tsar Alexander III com­missioned one as an Easter present for his wife, Tsarina Maria Feod­or­ovna, in 1885. It became a Romanov tradition for the next 3 decades. There were 50 surviving Imperial Easter eggs in collections around the world, the most famous being manuf­actured under the gold­smith's direct supervision between 1885-1917.

3 Imperial Easter eggs created by Carl Fabergé are being lent by Moscow Kremlin Museums to the UK for the first time. Altogether the V&A will display 200+ of the most stunning or­n­aments ever produced. Fabergé in Lon­don: Romance to Revolution will run from Nov 2021-May 2022, Covid allow­ing.

The Fabergé story may have been quite familiar to the world, but less well known was his UK branch, the only one out­side Russia. The V&A Ex­hib­ition will explor­e Faberge’s little known success in London; the shop that op­en­ed in Dover St and moved to New Bond St London in the Edwardian era attracted a client­ele of roy­alty, nobles and wealthy bus­inessmen. Faberge had been famous for creating intricate, golden be­jewelled orn­aments for Russian Tsars to give to their wives, but appar­ently rich British husbands loved them also. It closed in 1917.

The Moscow Kremlin Egg, Fabergé.

Gold, silver, onyx, glass, enamel 1906

Moscow Krem­lin Museums

By far the largest Imperial egg sent to the V&A was the Moscow Krem­lin Egg (1906), which was inspired by the architecture of Dormit­ion Cathedral in Moscow. In the base of the egg was a gold music box that had two traditional Easter hymns, played when the clockwork mechanism was wound up. The hymns were favourites of Czar Nicholas II.

The Kremlin Museums’ next treasure was the Al­ex­ander Pal­ace Egg (1908) which featured the children of last Tsar Nicholas II & his wife Alex­andra. The richness came from diamonds, gold, rubies and jade; the min­­iature watercolour paintings on ivory were also stunning. The de­tailed rep­l­ica of Alexander Palace, the Imperial family's favourite home in Tsarskoye Selo, was made of gold, enamel and rock crystal.

Finally the Romanov Tercentenary Egg (1913) had very rich materials: gold, silver, diamonds, turquoise, porphyry, rock crystal & watercolour painting on ivory. The egg celebrated the tercentenary of the Romanov dynasty, 300 years of Romanov rule from 1613-1913. The egg was decorated in a chased gold pattern with double-headed eagles as well the Romanov crowns that framed the Tsars’ portraits.

Through Fabergé’s creations, the exhibition will explore timeless st­or­ies of love and blatant social climbing. For example see a Faberge cigarette lighter given to Edward VII by his mistress, Alice Keppel. The Queen has lent the V&A some of the royal Fabergé collection, incl­uding personalised pieces made for King Edward VII and Queen Alexand­ra. And the Basket of Flow­ers Egg, comm­is­sioned in 1901 by Nicholas II as an Easter present for his wife.

Carl Faberge married Augusta Jacobs in 1872 and had 4 surviving sons: Eugene (1874-1960), Agathon (1876–1951), Alexander (1878–1952) and Nic­olas (1884-1939). The House of Fabergé was nationalised by the Bol­sheviks in 1918. Carl Fabergé left Petro­grad by train for Riga, then to Germany. The Bolsh­eviks gaoled his sons Ag­ath­on and Alexander. Mrs Fabergé and Eugène crossed the border into Finland in Dec 1918. Alex­an­der later escaped from prison, and Agathon left the USSR for Finland with his family. In 1924 Alex­ander and Eugène successfully opened Fab­ergé in Paris.

Faberge's only shop outside Russia

New Bond St, London

Closed in 1917

Kieran McCarthy wrote the book Fabergé in London: The British Branch of the Imperial Russian Goldsmith (2017). It is of great interest to fans of the decorative arts, the Edwardian Golden Age and European Royalty.