The name Fabergé has long been a byword for luxury. Combining an entrepreneurial vision for craftsmanship with innovative material sourcing and technical ability, Carl Fabergé created an astonishing array of bespoke jewelled and enamelled objects at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century.

This beautifully illustrated book explores the history and legacy of the House of Fabergé, from its origins in Russia – and its role in the glamorous world of the Romanovs – to global recognition. Much of the story is familiar, but less well-known is the important part played by the London branch. Opened in 1903, and the only one outside Russia, it became a choice destination for Edwardian high society and an international clientele. Featuring over 120 pieces, from delicate flowers to Imperial Easter eggs, and with contributions from leading experts Fabergé: A Russian Love Affair celebrates the enduring fascination with this master craftsman’s works.

Fabergé in London: Romance to Revolution

This exhibition explores master goldsmith, Carl Fabergé – whose internationally recognised firm symbolised Russian craftsmanship, luxury and elegance – and the Anglo-Russian relationship which saw the opening of a London branch in 1903.

About the Authors:

Kieran McCarthy is the Managing Director at Wartski.

Hanne Faurby is Project Curator of the Fabergé: a Russian Love Affair exhibition at the V&A.

Fabergé: Treasures of Imperial Russia. Fabergé Museum, St. Petersburg is a lavish volume on the most complete Fabergé collection in the world, with many pieces rarely seen before, from the famous imperial Easter eggs to precious jewelry, enamels, and Russian silver, showcased in the sumptuous Shuvalov Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Jeweler and goldsmith Carl Fabergé and his firm are renowned for creating the most superbly refined objects of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries for the nobility and aristocracy of imperial Russia. Exquisite examples of the jeweler’s art, Fabergé’s magnificent Easter eggs, commissioned for the Romanov Imperial family, and other impeccably crafted objects continue to be prized the world over for their incredible craftsmanship and unparalleled beauty.

Now, the Fabergé Museum in St. Petersburg has gathered the most spectacular and comprehensive treasury of Fabergé objects. This book showcases a wealth of precious objects — from the imperial eggs, delicate jeweled enamel clocks, and picture frames to animals carved out of hardstone and gem-encrusted jewelry and presentation boxes.

With all-new photography of the collection — more than 500 priceless objects in all — alongside stunning images of the majestic Shuvalov Palace, this luxurious volume is a celebration of the exquisite beauty and craftsmanship of prerevolutionary Russia and its heritage.

About the Author:

Written by internationally known authors and leading experts: Géza von Habsburg, Tatiana Muntian, Valentin Skurlov, Ulla Tillander-Godenhielm, Kieran McCarthy, Mark Schaffer, Irina Buseva-Davydova, Alexander von Solodkoff, and Ekaterina Khmelnitskaya.

Fabergé, Tiffany, Lalique — these great designers came together only once to display their goods in what was probably the most opulent exhibition ever mounted. At the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris, the three strove to position themselves ahead of their many competitors in the luxury market, each presenting his jewelry and home adornments as high art. Their success is explored in this splendidly illustrated catalogue, which elucidates the prewar pinnacle of European culture.

The array of displayed objects was mesmerizing: Tiffany glass, Easter eggs to dazzle the Czars, realistic insects created in precious materials as sinister decorations. Many of these bore influences of the advanced art of the time, such as Art Nouveau, Viennese modernism, and symbolism, and of styles from around the world.

Four essays discuss the works in the context of their times, illuminate the high societies served by the three masters, and trace the cultural trends behind their extraordinary creations. A treasure of accompanying photographs shows the individual exhibits, scenes from the World's Fair, and the glitterati who wore the jewelry. 

About the Authors:

Stephen Harrison is curator of decorative arts at the Cleveland Museum of Art. 
Emmanuel Ducamp has written and lectured widely on Russian and French decorative arts. 
Jeannine Falino is an independent curator, formerly the Carolyn and Peter Lynch Curator of Decorative Arts and Sculpture at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

The exquisite objects created by goldsmith and jeweler Peter Carl Fabergé and his studio in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for the aristocracy and nobility of imperial Russia are considered to be some of the most refined examples of the jeweler's art of any age. Of greatest fascination are the extraordinary Easter eggs created as special commissions for the Russian imperial family and other notable patrons - works that remain unparalleled in their ingenuity of construction and sheer beauty.

Accompanying a major exhibition Faberge Revealed represents a landmark for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and for Fabergé scholarship. The essays by Géza von Habsburg and other scholars present new findings on Fabergé, his workshops, and the creation of these extraordinary objects. For the first time all items by or attributed to Fabergé in VMFA's collection are documented along with the museum's significant holdings of other Russian decorative arts. Also included is a section on forgeries that bravely confronts this vexing question. Every object has been splendidly re-photographed for this book - and the detailed photography alone should provide inestimable value for future Fabergé scholarship.

Richly illustrated with some 600 photographs, the volume documents an important collection bequeathed in 1947 to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts by Lillian Thomas Pratt, of Fredericksburg, Va., the wife of General Motors executive John Lee Pratt. Her collection, assembled between 1933 and 1946, comprised several hundred creations by the Faberge workshops and by other Russian imperial jewelers. These exquisite, marvelously crafted objects, range from the majestic jeweled imperial eggs to delicate jeweled flowers in vases to diamond-encrusted icons and tiaras, to animal figures nimbly carved from precious stone.

Contents:
Introduction by Géza von Habsburg
Chapter 1: The House of Fabergé/by Géza von Habsburg
Chapter 2: Behind the Scenes at Fabergé: The St. Petersburg Workshops/ by Ulla Tillander-Godenhieim
Chapter 3: Fabergé and His Russian Competitors/ by Géza von Habsburg
Chapter 4: Fabergé and His Foreign Competitors
Chapter 5: Mrs. Pratt's Imperial Easter Eggs / by Carol Aiken
Chapter 6: The Zarnitza Sailor and His Place in History / by Christel Ludewig McCaniess
Chapter 7: Fabergé and Grand Duchess Vladimir / by Alexander von Solodkoff
Chapter 8: Lillian Thomas Pratt and A La Vieille Russie: A Personal Relationship/ by Mark Schaffer
Chapter 9: Fauxbergé / by Géza von Habsburg
Catalogue: Fabergé/Other Makers/Forgeries

About the Author:

Géza von Habsburg is an internationally known author and authority on Faberge who has served as curator and organizer for a number of Fabergé exhibitions in the United States and abroad, among them Fabergé, Jeweler to the Tsars (1986-87) at Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung in Munich, Germany, and Fabergé in America, which was shown at VMFA and 4 other U.S. venues (1996-97), and Faberge, Imperial Court Jeweler, which was shown in St. Petersburg, Paris, and London (1993-94). He has written or co-written 9 books on Faberge and related topics. Von Habsburg is the grandson of King Frederick Augustus III of Saxony and great-great-grandson of Emperor Franz-Joseph of Austria. He is currently the curatorial director of the London-based Fabergé Company.

Peter Carl Fabergé (1846–1920) is deservedly the most famous creator of the stunning gold, silver, and jewel-studded treasures of imperial Russia. Perhaps because of the popularity of his Easter eggs, Fabergé’s skilled competitors have been largely overlooked. Fabergé and the Russian Master Goldsmiths tells their story and features their masterpieces as well as Fabergé’s. Today, the creations of the Russian master goldsmiths are dispersed throughout the world. A broad sampling of masterpieces from the great Russian collections, as well as from private and public collections, are depicted here in nearly 300 full-color illustrations, a number of which are published here for the first time.

About the Author

Gerard Hill is director of Russian Art for Sotheby’s, New York. G. G. Smorodinova and B. L. Ulyanova are curators at the Historical Museum in Moscow.