A La Vieille Russie

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A La Vieille Russie Storefront

1 Overview
2 History
3 Seminal Exhibitions at A La Vieille Russie
4 References
5 External Links

[edit] Overview

A La Vieille Russie, a New York antiques gallery specializing in antique jewelry and Russian works of art, is world renown for its collection of artworks by Carl Fabergé, created for members of the Romanov court and other wealthy patrons in late 19^th century Russia. In the over one hundred and fifty years since its establishment, A La Vieille Russie has bought and sold countless pieces of Fabergé, including many of the Imperial Easter Eggs and other objets de vertu. Works from the gallery are loaned to museums around the world and exhibited regularly.

[edit] History

A La Vieille Russie, a family enterprise since its founding in Kiev in 1851, left the turmoil of the Revolution and was re-established in Paris around 1921 by Jacques Zolotnitsky, the son of the founder and later by Alexander Schaffer in America.

A La Vieille Russie today.

Alexander Schaffer in his first shop in Rockefeller Center, about 1934.

Still a multi-generational family business, under the direction of brothers, Messrs. Paul and Peter L. Schaffer, and Paul's son, Dr. Mark A. Schaffer, A La Vieille Russie, continues the tradition of dealing in fine art and antiques. In its original location in Kiev, goldsmith and jeweler Carl Fabergé, whose shop was nearby, was himself a client.

The gallery moved to Paris in the 1920’s, where clients included Queen Marie of Romania, Grand Duchesses Xenia and Olga, sisters of Nicholas II, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, King Farouk and others, and the shop became a focal point for émigré aristocracy and intellectual activity.

With the onset of the Second World War, the gallery relocated from Paris to New York. Initially, it was one of the first tenants at Rockefeller Center in 1934, then moved to another Fifth Avenue location in 1941, and finally to its present location in 1961 on New York’s famed Fifth Avenue, at 59th Street opposite the south entrance of Central Park. In America, A La Vieille Russie quickly established itself as experts in Fabergé and Russian Imperial treasures and continues so today. It helped form all the major American Fabergé collections, like the Forbes Magazine Collection, many of which are now in museums such as the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Cleveland Museum of Art.

A La Vieille Russie is recognized today as international experts on the works of Fabergé. The gallery also specializes in European and American antique jewelry, 18th-century European gold snuffboxes, and antique Russian decorative arts, including silver, enamel, and porcelain, as well as Russian paintings, icons, and furniture.

The gallery maintains a strong exhibition schedule, both as exhibitors and lenders. It exhibits annually at TEFAF Maastricht in the Netherlands, New York's Winter Antiques Show, The Grosvenor House Art & Antiques Fair in London, and the New York International Fine Art and Antique Dealers Show.