Eskişehir, Türkiye
Thursday 21 March 2024
“You are an incomparable genius.”
(Russian Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna to Peter Carl Fabergé, on receiving her annual egg, 1914)
There is a long history of decorated eggs in Russia and pre-Fabergé porcelain eggs had been popular for many years.
The first Fabergé egg was made for Tsar Alexander III (1845 – 1894) as an Easter present for his wife, the Empress Maria Feodorovna (1847 – 1928) and perhaps also to mark the 20th anniversary of their engagement.
Created in the workshops of Russian jeweller Peter Carl Fabergé (1846 – 1920) in St. Petersburg, probably by Finnish goldsmith and jeweller Eric Kollin (1836 – 1901).
It is known as “the Hen Egg” – within the gold shell covered in white enamel is a gold “yolk” that itself contains a gold hen.
Originally, the hen opened to reveal a tiny diamond replica of the Imperial Crown on which a ruby pendant hung, those these have been lost.
On 21 March 1885, the Tsar wrote to the Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich thanking him for arranging the order, which he said was fine and exquisite.
Apparently, the Tsarina, too, was very pleased with the egg, which stayed in the Anichkov Imperial Palace in St. Petersburg until the Russian Revolution of 1917.
Above: Anichkov Palace, St. Petersburg, Russia
After the Revolution, along with many other Romanov treasures, the now large egg collection was removed on Lenin’s orders to the Kremlin Armoury Museum in Moscow.
A number of the eggs were then bought by a London dealer, sold various times at auction in the 20th century, and finally bought by Russian businessman Viktor Vekselberg.
He donated his collection, including the first Fabergé egg, to the Fabergé Museum in St. Petersburg in 2013.
Fabergé made a total of 69 eggs, mostly for Alexander III and his son Nicholas II to be given as presents, of which 57 have survived.
Fabergé was born in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire, to the Baltic German jeweller Gustav Fabergé (1814 – 1894) and his German wife Charlotte Jungstedt (1842 – 1893), the daughter of Katarina Augusta Hertig and Karl Jungstedt.
Above: Gustav and Charlotte Fabergé
Gustav Fabergé’s paternal ancestors were Huguenots (French Protestants), originally from La Bouteille, Picardy, who fled from France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, first to Germany near Berlin, then in 1800 to Parnuthe in the Baltic province of Livonia, then part of Russia, now Estonia.
Above: Eglise Notre Dame de La Bouteille
Until he was 14 years old he went to the German St. Anne School in Saint Petersburg .
In 1860, his father retired from his jewelry business and moved with his family to Germany.
He left the House of Fabergé in Saint Petersburg in the hands of his business partner.
Above: Logo of the House of Fabergé (1842 – 1918)
Carl Fabergé undertook a course at the Dresden Arts and Crafts School.
In 1862, Agathon Fabergé, the Fabergés’ second son, was born in Dresden, where he went to school as well.
Above: Dresden skyline
In 1864, Peter Carl Fabergé embarked upon a Grand Tour of Europe.
He received tuition from respected goldsmiths in Germany, France and England, attended a course at Schloss’s Commercial College in Paris, and viewed the objects in the galleries of Europe’s leading museums.
His travel and study continued until 1872, when at the age of 26 he returned to St. Petersburg and married Augusta Julia Jacobs.
1874 saw the arrival of his first child, Eugene Fabergé and two years later, Agathon Fabergé was born.
Alexander Fabergé and Nicholas Fabergé followed in 1877 and 1884 respectively.
For the following 10 years, his father’s trusted workmaster Hiskias Pendin acted as his mentor and tutor.
The company was also involved with cataloguing, repairing and restoring objects in the Hermitage during the 1870s.
Above: The Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg
In 1881, the business moved to larger street-level premises at 16/18 Bolshaya Morskaya.
Upon the death of Hiskias Pendin in 1882, Carl Fabergé took sole responsibility for running the company.
Carl was awarded the title Master Goldsmith, which permitted him to use his own hallmark in addition to that of the firm.
In 1885, his brother Agathon Fabergé joined the firm and became Carl Fabergé’s main assistant in the designing of jewellry.
Carl and Agathon Fabergé Sr. were a sensation at the Pan-Russian Exhibition held in Moscow in 1882.
Carl was awarded a gold medal and the St. Stanislav Medal.
One of the Fabergé pieces displayed was a replica of a 4th-century BC gold bangle from the Scythian Treasure in the Hermitage.
The Tsar, Alexander III, “Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias“, declared that he could not distinguish the Fabergé’s work from the original and ordered that objects by the House of Fabergé should be displayed in the Hermitage as examples of superb contemporary Russian craftsmanship.
The House of Fabergé with its range of jewels was now within the focus of Russia’s Imperial Court.
Above: Tsar Alexander III of Russia
When Peter Carl took over the House, there was a move from producing jewellery in the then-fashionable French 18th century style to becoming artist – jewellers.
Fabergé’s production of the very first Fabergé egg, the Hen Egg, given as a gift from the Tsar to his wife on Orthodox Easter of 1885 so delighted her that on 1 May the Emperor assigned Fabergé the title Goldsmith by special appointment to the Imperial Crown of that year.
This meant that Fabergé now had full personal access to the important Hermitage Collection, where he was able to study and find inspiration for developing his unique personal style.
Influenced by the jewelled bouquets created by the 18th century goldsmiths Jean-Jacques Duval and Jérémie Pauzié, Fabergé re-worked their ideas combining them with his accurate observations and his fascination for Japanese art.
This resulted in a revival of the lost art of enameling and a focus on the setting of every single gemstone in a piece to its best visual advantage.
Indeed, it was not unusual for Agathon to make ten or more wax models so that all possibilities could be exhausted before deciding on a final design.
Shortly after Agathon joined the firm, the House introduced objects deluxe: gold bejewelled items embellished with enamel ranging from electric bell pushes to cigarette cases and including objects de fantaisie.
In light of the Empress’ response to receiving one of Fabergé’s eggs on Easter, the Tsar soon commissioned the company to make an Easter egg as a gift for her every year thereafter.
The Tsar placed an order for another egg the following year.
Above: Tsarina Maria Feodorovna of Russia
Beginning in 1887, the Tsar apparently gave Carl Fabergé complete freedom with regard to egg designs, which then became more and more elaborate.
According to Fabergé Family tradition, not even the Tsar knew what form they would take— the only stipulation was that each one should be unique and each should contain a surprise.
Upon the death of Alexander III, his son, the next Tsar, Nicholas II, followed this tradition and expanded it by requesting that there be two eggs each year, one for his mother (who was eventually given a total of 30 such eggs) and one for his wife, Alexandra (who received another 20).
These Easter gift eggs are today distinguished from the other jeweled eggs Fabergé ended up producing by their designation as “Imperial Easter eggs” or “Tsar Imperial Easter eggs“.
The tradition continued until the October Revolution when the entire Romanov dynasty was executed and the eggs and many other treasures were confiscated by the interim government.
The two final eggs were never delivered nor paid for.
Although today the House of Fabergé is famed for its Imperial Easter eggs, it made many more objects ranging from silver tableware to fine jewelry which were also of exceptional quality and beauty, and until its departure from Russia during the revolution, Fabergé’s company became the largest jewelry business in the country.
In addition to its Saint Petersburg headquarters, it had branches in Moscow, Odessa, Kiev and London.
It produced some 150,000 to 200,000 objects from 1882 until 1917.
In 1900, Fabergé’s work represented Russia at the 1900 World’s Fair in Paris.
As Carl Fabergé was a member of the jury, the House of Fabergé exhibited hors concours (without competing).
Nevertheless, the House was awarded a gold medal and the city’s jewelers recognized Carl Fabergé as a maître.
Additionally, France recognized Carl Fabergé with one of the most prestigious of French awards, appointing him a Knight of the Legion of Honour.
Two of Carl’s sons and his head workmaster were also honored.
Commercially, the Exposition was a great success and the firm acquired a great many orders and clients.
In 1916, the House of Fabergé became a joint stock company with a capital of 3 million rubles.
The following year upon the outbreak of the October Revolution, the business was taken over by a ‘Committee of the Employees of the Company K Fabergé‘.
In 1918, the House of Fabergé was seized by the Bolsheviks.
In early October the stock was confiscated.
The House of Fabergé was no more.
After the nationalization of the business, Carl Fabergé left St. Petersburg on the last diplomatic train for Riga.
In mid-November, the Revolution having reached Latvia, he fled to Germany and first settled in Bad Homburg and then in Wiesbaden.
Eugène, the Fabergés’ eldest, travelled with his mother in darkness by sleigh and on foot through snow-covered woods and reached Finland in December 1918.
During June 1920, Eugène reached Wiesbaden and accompanied his father to Switzerland where other members of the family had taken refuge at the Bellevue Hotel in Pully, near Lausanne.
Above: Pully, Switzerland
Peter Carl Fabergé never recovered from the shock of the Russian Revolution.
He died in Switzerland on 24 September 1920.
His family believed he died of a broken heart.
Above: Karl Fabergé
Fabergé had five sons, four of whom lived to adulthood:
- Eugène (1874 – 1960)
- Agathon (1876 – 1951)
- Alexander (1877 – 1952)
- Nikolai (1881 – 1883)
- Nicholas (1884 – 1939)
Descendants of Peter Carl Fabergé live in mainland Europe, Scandinavia and South America.
Above: Fabergé at work
How does this relate to blogging?
Fabergé practiced all the skills that today’s successful bloggers do.
- Use your existing skills.
- Use your network.
- Work “outside the box”.
- Keep your skills up to date.
- Play to your strengths.
- Put yourself in the frame.
- Interact.
- Find an angle.
- Go beyond the obvious.
- Use amazing images.
- Produce regularly.
- Give users what they want.
- Get the word out.
- Build relationships.
I am reminded of a story from Ronald Gross in his “The Independent Scholar’s Handbook“:
It was Gross’ first day at his first job.
He had obtained a position as the lowest of the low at a New York publishing house, Simon and Schuster.
Max Schuster, the co-founder of the firm, was a publisher of the old breed, in the days before conglomerates consumed book companies for breakfast.
Gross had barely found his way to and from the men’s room when the summons came to wait upon Max in his vast book-lined office study.
For a young man fresh to the world of work this was an awesome assignation.
Gross found himself sitting in an armchair in what was referred to as “the Inner Sanctum” – an armchair that had been occupied by Bertrand Russell, Albert Einstein, Bernard Berenson, Will Durant, and hundreds of other writers, philosophers, historians, novelists and poets.
Above: Max Schuster and Richard L. Simon
Schuster was not a man to mince words or to warm you up with small talk.
His words were well-honed.
He obviously had delivered this message before and knew exactly what he wanted to say and how he wanted to say it.
Above: Simon and Schuster Building in Rockefeller Center, New York City
Fixing Gross with a firm eye over the glistening mahogany desktop, Schuster declared:
“I have one piece of advice for you – not just for success in this business, but personally.
Begin at once – not today or tomorrow or at some remote indefinite date, but right now, at this precise moment – to choose some subject, some concept, some great name or idea or event in history on which you can eventually make yourself the world’s supreme expert.
Start a crash program immediately to qualify yourself for this self-assignment through reading, research and education.
I don’t mean the sort of expert who avoids all the small errors as he sweeps on to the grand fallacy.
I mean one who has the most knowledge, the deepest insight and the most audacious willingness to break new ground.
Such a disciplined form of self-education will give you prestige, eminence and worldwide contacts.
You will enjoy correspondence and fellowship with other people interested in the same speciality.
It will add a new dimension and a new unity to your entire education.
It will give you a passionate sense of purpose.
The cross-fertilization of ideas will become an exciting and unending adventure that will add a new total perspective to your entire life.“
Bloggers become influencers through hard work, tireless self promotion, smart networking and luck.
- Show what you know.
- Choose a platform.
- Find a unique voice.
- Network, network, network
Become an egghead and share what you know.
Become as valuable and unique as a Fabergé egg.
Sources:
- “The Digital Nomad Handbook” (Lonely Planet)
- “Art Day by Day”, edited by Alex Johnson (Thames & Hudson)
- “The Independent Scholar’s Handbook”, Ronald Gross (Ten Speed Press)
- Wikipedia
