Peter Carl Fabergé

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Bouquet of Lilies or Madonna Lily Egg by Fabergé

Peter Carl Fabergé original name Carl Gustavovich Fabergé (May 30, 1846–September 24, 1920) was a Russian jeweller, best known for the fabulous Fabergé eggs, made in the style of genuine Easter eggs, but using precious metals and gemstones rather than more mundane materials.

He was born in St. Petersburg to the jeweller Gustav Fabergé and his Danish wife Charlotte Jungstedt. Gustav Fabergé’s father’s family were Huguenots who ,lived in La Bouteille ,Picardie, fled from France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, initially to Germany near Berlin, then in 1800 to the Baltic province of Livonia, then 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 study trip, learning the jeweller’s craft 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 were a sensation at the Pan-Russian Exhibition held in Moscow in 1882. 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 Tsarina Maria. Tsar Nicholas II ordered two eggs each year, one for his mother and one for his own wife, Alexandra, a practice which continued from 1895 to 1916. And Fabergé made far more than just eggs; in 1896 the company produced all the gifts given during the coronation ceremonies for Nicholas II.

In 1897 the Swedish court appointed Fabergé Court Goldsmith, and in 1900 his work represented Russia at the 1900 World’s Fair in Paris. He became the Tsar’s Court Goldsmith in 1910. Fabergé’s company was the largest in Russia with 500 employees, and branches in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Odessa, Kiev and London. Most of Fabergé’s employees at St. Petersburg were Finnish workers, they made the famous Fabergé eggs. It produced some 150,000 objects between 1882 and 1917.

The main Fabergé store in Saint Petersburg was officially renamed Yakhont (Ruby) but still is known as the Fabergé store

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 moved to Wiesbaden, Germany making stops in Riga, Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg. Fabergé and his wife moved to Bellevue Hotel in Lausanne, Switzerland, and was buried beside his wife Augusta in the Cimetière du Grand Jas in Cannes, France.

Fabergé had four sons: Eugéne (1874-1960), Agathon ,(1876-1982), Alexander (1877-1988) and Nicolas (1884-1939) His sons Eugené Fabergé and Alexander Fabergé founded a successor of Fabergé Co.; as of 1989 it is owned by the jeweller Victor Mayer. The Fabergé workmaster continues the legacy of the famous brand and is its sole legal successor.

Another descendant, Theo (son of Nicolas and grandson of Peter Carl), and his daughter, Sarah, have developed new designs. Their stated goal is to preserve the Fabergé name by producing objects of comparable beauty. They opened a small boutique in Saint Petersburg in 2003. In October 2005, a second was opened on Red Square in Moscow.

[edit] References

Charles Bainbridge, Peter Carl Fabergé: Goldsmith and Jeweller to the Russian Imperial Court. His Life and Work (1949, reprinted 1971). Bainbridge was a personal friend of Fabergé, and later managed the London branch.
Abraham Kenneth Snowman, Carl Fabergé: Goldsmith to the Imperial Court of Russia (Random House, 1988), ISBN 0517405024