Faberge family history. Peter Carl Faberge. Biography, history of the House of Faberge in Russia Carl Faberge biography

Peter Karl Gustavovich Faberge. Was born on May 18 (30), 1846 in St. Petersburg - died on September 24, 1920 in Lausanne (Switzerland). Russian jeweler. The manufacturer of the famous Faberge eggs.

Carl Faberge was born on May 18 (30 in a new style) May 1846 in St. Petersburg.

He is German by nationality.

Father - Gustav Faberge, came from a German family with French roots, originally from Estonia. In 1842 he founded a jewelry company in St. Petersburg.

Mother - Charlotte Jungstedt, daughter of a Danish artist.

In his early years, Carl Faberge traveled to Europe, studied in Dresden. Then he began to master the jewelry business from the Frankfurt master Josef Friedman.

After that he returned to Russia and at the age of 24 in 1870 became the head of his father's company.

The godfather of the Fabergé firm, who allowed his works to become world famous, can be considered the Russian emperor, who in 1882 at the All-Russian art and industrial exhibition in Moscow drew attention to the master's products. Since that time, Peter Karl received the patronage of the royal family and the title of "jeweler of His Imperial Majesty and jeweler of the Imperial Hermitage".

Carl Faberge and the craftsmen of his company created their first jewelry egg in 1885 - they were fulfilling the order of Alexander III, who wished to make an Easter surprise for his wife Maria Feodorovna. The so-called "Chicken" egg is coated on the outside with a white, imitating shell, enamel, and inside, in a "yolk" of matte gold, - a chicken made of colored gold. Inside the chicken, in turn, is hidden a small ruby \u200b\u200bcrown, which was later lost.

It should be noted that the idea of \u200b\u200bsuch a piece of jewelry was by no means original - the Faberge Easter egg became a free interpretation of an egg made in the early 18th century (3 of which are known today). They are in the Rosenborg Castle (Copenhagen), the Museum of Art History (Vienna) and in a private collection (formerly in the Dresden art gallery "Green Arches"). In all three mentioned specimens of eggs, a chicken is hidden, opening which, you can find a crown, and in it - a ring. It is believed that the emperor wanted to please his spouse with a surprise that would remind her of a well-known product from the Danish royal treasury.

The empress was so fascinated by the gift that Faberge, who had turned into a court jeweler, was ordered to make an egg every year. At the same time, the product had to be unique and contain some kind of surprise - this was the only condition.

Soon the Faberge firm became famous throughout Europe. Many relatives of the imperial family in Great Britain, Denmark, Greece and Bulgaria received items as gifts.

In 1900, in Paris, Faberge received the title of "Master of the Paris Guild of Jewelers", and he was also awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor.

In 1899-1900, the main building of the Fabergé firm was erected in the center of St. Petersburg, designed by the architect Karl Schmidt, a cousin of the jeweler. A shop and workshops are located on the ground floors. The rest of the building was occupied by the living rooms of the Faberge family.

It took almost a year to make each egg. As soon as the sketch was approved, a whole team of the firm's jewelers undertook the work, the names of some of them survived - in this connection, it should not be said that the author of all the eggs is Carl Faberge himself. The contribution of the master Mikhail Perkhin is especially great. Also mentioned are August Holstrom, Henryk Wigstrom, Eric Collin.

The series of imperial eggs was so famous that the Fabergé company made several products for private customers. Among them, a series of seven eggs, presented by the gold miner Alexander Ferdinandovich Kelkh to his wife, stands apart. The rest of the famous eight Faberge eggs were custom-made for Felix Yusupov, nephew of Alfred Nobel, the Rothschilds, the Duchess of Marlborough and unidentified individuals. They are not as luxurious as the imperial ones, and they are not original, often repeating the type invented for royal gifts.

Perhaps some more products were made for private individuals, but they were never documented (unlike royal eggs), which leaves some freedom for skillful counterfeiters. An example of an unexpected discovery is the "Rothschild egg" put up for sale in the fall of 2007, which was ordered by representatives of the clan in the Faberge firm and was kept among the family property, without being advertised, for a whole century.

Among other works by Faberge - a unique 1905 still life, which is a stone on which a "gentleman's set" is laid out: scrambled eggs, a faceted glass with half-drunk vodka, a snack and a half-smoked cigarette. Despite the seeming simplicity, the still life is made of the most expensive materials: a brick is carved from jasper, squirrels are made of white stone, the yolk is made of amber, newspaper, snack fish and flies are made of silver, the glass and its contents are made of crystal, and the cigarette butt is made of crystal and quartz.

The Fabergé firm produced not only expensive "toys for the rich", but also things designed for a consumer with an average income. It is known that copper cups were produced at one of the company's factories in 1914.

faberge eggs

After the revolution of 1917 and the establishment of Soviet power, Faberge factories and shops in Petrograd, Moscow and Odessa were nationalized.

In Petrograd, the Bolsheviks fell into the hands of almost all stocks of precious metals, stones and finished products, for which no compensation was paid to the owners. Only a small fraction of the products that Eugene Faberge had been able to export to Finland shortly before was saved from nationalization.

Subsequently, the Bolsheviks freely disposed of the confiscated property - for example, Emanuel Snowman of the Wartski trading house recalled that in the period from 1925 to 1939 he regularly purchased a large number of Faberge products from a Soviet state dealer, including six Easter eggs, directly in the location of the former Petrograd shop of Karl Faberge on Bolshaya Morskaya, 24.

In September 1918, Carl Faberge, fearing arrest, illegally left Petrograd, under the guise of a courier from one of the foreign embassies, and went abroad by train to Riga. Soon after, Soviet Russia invaded Latvia and Karl Faberge had to flee further to the West - to Germany.

He settled in Berlin, but the revolution began there too. Faberge had to move to Frankfurt am Main, then to Homburg and Wiesbaden, where he finally stopped.

Carl Faberge never recovered from the revolutionary events that shocked him. During this time, he often repeated: "There is no more life."

In May 1920, his heart became ill. When his health improved somewhat, his family moved him to the vicinity of Lake Geneva, known for its healthy climate.

He died in the city of Lausanne in Switzerland on the morning of September 24, 1920, having smoked half a cigar shortly before his death. Buried in the Grands Jas cemetery in Cannes.

In memory of the great in Odessa, on the building of the Passage Hotel, where the jewelry salon of Carl Faberge was located in the fashionable shopping arcade before the Bolshevik revolution, a memorial plaque was installed. There is also a memorial plaque in Kiev in honor of the famous jeweler.

There is Karl Faberge Square in St. Petersburg.

On November 19, 2013, the Faberge Museum was opened in St. Petersburg at the Naryshkin-Shuvalov Palace.

In Baden-Baden there is a Faberge Museum, the first in the world, completely dedicated to the work of a jeweler's firm.

In Moscow, there is a college of arts and crafts named after Karl Faberge.

Faberge secrets

Personal life of Carl Faberge:

Wife - Augusta Julia Jacobs. They got married in 1872.

Four sons were born in the marriage: Eugene Faberge, Nikolai Faberge, Alexander Faberge, Agafon Karlovich Faberge.

Carl Faberge had an affair with the café singer Joanna-Amalia Kriebel. He fell in love with her in Paris in 1902 at the age of 56. She was 21.Since that time, he traveled annually for about 3 months on commercial matters to Europe, where he cohabited with his passion. Their romance lasted 10 years.

In 1912, Ioanna Amalia married 75-year-old Georgian prince Karaman Tsitsianov.

Fate brought them together in 1914, with the outbreak of war. At that moment, she was living in Germany and begged her former lover to apply for a move to Russia. Despite the fact that then the persecution of people with German surnames began and Faberge himself was teetering on the brink of expulsion (which is why he even partially re-registered the company's shares to trusted workers with Russian names), he used his connections at the Court and helped the former passion move to Petersburg, where she settled in the Evropeyskaya Hotel.

In 1916, Ioanna-Amalia Tsitsianova (née Kriebel) was accused of spying for Germany and arrested. Faberge then tried to plead for her, but to no avail: Amalia was convicted and sent to Siberia.

Amalia Kriebel - Faberge's mistress

Sons of Carl Faberge:

The eldest son - Evgeny Karlovich Faberge (05/29/1874 - 1960), a talented jewelry and portrait painter, studied in Petrishula from 1887 to 1892 and at the jewelry department of the University of Hanau in Germany, as well as S. Seidenberg and J. Ollill in Helsinki.

In 1897 he worked as an expert at an exhibition in Stockholm.

In 1900, for an exhibition in Paris, he was awarded the officer's badge of the Academy of Arts and the Bulgarian Order of St. Alexander.

From 1894 he worked at his father's firm. From 1898 to 1918, together with his father and brother Agafon Karlovich, he was the actual head of the company in St. Petersburg.

In 1923 he emigrated to Paris, where he founded, together with his brother, the firm "Faberge and Co".

Agafon Karlovich Faberge (01.24.1876 - 1951) studied in Petrishula from 1887 to 1892 and at the commercial department of the Wiedemann gymnasium.

In May 1895, he joined his father's business, since 1898 - an expert in the Diamond Room of the Winter Palace, an appraiser of the Loan Office, an appraiser of His Imperial Majesty by his father's power of attorney.

In 1900-1910s, together with his father and brother Evgeny Karlovich, he managed the firm's affairs. At the end of the 1900 exhibition in Paris, he was awarded a gold medal.

He was unfairly accused by his father of stealing money, after which their relationship ended - only many years later a family friend himself confessed to theft.

He did not leave Soviet Russia with his family. Since 1922 he was appointed an authorized Gokhran and appraiser.

In 1927, together with his wife Maria Borzova, he crossed the border with Finland on the ice of the Gulf of Finland, having previously ferried through acquaintances and friends money and jewelry, which did not last long, but much was stolen. He found himself in extreme poverty. He settled in a bought and rebuilt four-story house in Helsinki. He lived off the sale of part of his richest collection of stamps.

Alexander Karlovich Faberge (17.12.1877 - 1952) studied in Petrishul from 1887 to 1895 and at the school of Baron Stieglitz, then at Casho in Geneva.

Then - the head and artist of the Moscow branch of the firm.

In 1919 he was appointed an expert of the People's Commissariat for Education.

Later he emigrated to Paris, where he worked at the firm "Faberge and Co".

Nikolay Karlovich Faberge (05/09/1884 - 1939) - graduate of Petrishule (studied from 1894 to 1902), jewelry artist. He studied under the American artist Sarzhant in England.

From 1906 he lived in England, worked in the London branch of the Faberge firm.

Emperor Alexander III loved his wife very much, and she loved luxurious things, especially jewelry. The king pampered her and often gave exquisite gifts. Once the famous jeweler Carl Faberge was summoned to the palace and received an urgent order. By Easter, he had to "create a miracle" - to make an egg of extraordinary beauty.

The jeweler did his best. I made the shell of white enamel, worked everything inside with yellow gold, and put a chicken in this "yolk". It was made of colored gold. Not only the egg and yolk itself opened, but also the chicken. It contained a crown, skillfully carved from ruby.

The imperial family was delighted, and Carl Faberge received not only a huge salary - the emperor did not stint and more than paid for the skillful work. The title given by grateful Alexander turned out to be more expensive than money. “Jeweler of His Imperial Majesty” and “Jeweler of the Imperial Hermitage” - this is how Faberge was called from now on.

The Faberge jewelry house was already well known by this time. Then there were awards and world recognition. “Master of the Parisian Guild of Jewelers” and “Order of the Legion of Honor” - Fabergé was most proud of them.

After making the first egg, the Empress instructed Karl to "create" the next miracle every Easter. There are 15 Easter eggs in total. A whole team of craftsmen prepared them according to the master's sketches, so the term "Faberge eggs" is fundamentally incorrect. There is no evidence that, other than the first, they were his doing.

Such famous artisans as Mikhail Perkhin, August Holstrom, Henrik Wigstrom, Eric Colin worked in the jewelry house. Thanks to them, the lady's jewelry was famous throughout Europe.

And the workshop produced not only exclusive products for the imperial family and court ladies. There were no mass products, that is, stampings. Every item, even an ordinary "soldier's" cigarette case, was made to perfection.

Among the products of Faberge were such items that can be called a "joke of a genius." One of them is the famous still life. In 1905, Faberge exhibited The Gentlemen's Set. It is a gray stone with scrambled eggs casually thrown on the table. Next to her is an ordinary faceted glass with half-drunk vodka in it. In addition to scrambled eggs, there is also a sprat. A half-smoked cigarette is lying near her.

Seemingly ordinary picture. But it is made of precious materials. The egg white is a white stone and the yolk is amber. There is quartz and jasper here, the glass and vodka in it are carved from rock crystal. All other items are silver.

The unusual still life amazed and shocked the audience. Maybe he was no exception, but such works have not survived.

Fabergé's jewelers made pendants and bracelets, rings and necklaces, tiaras and figurines. All this was exquisite, beautiful and very expensive. Fabergés grew rich, their fame became truly worldwide.

Everything collapsed in 1917. The revolution swept away everything in its path without pity, Fabergés were no exception. The Bolsheviks could not miss such a tidbit as the richest jewelry house. Expropriation, ruin, arrest and flight from Russia. Then emigration and wanderings.

In 1920, Carl Faberge passed away. He was never able to recover from the shocks, he believed that Russia was gone and would never again become a great power.

Ruin did not oppress the great master. Money is a real deal. Very soon he and his sons opened branches in France and England and lived comfortably. The thought of the Motherland and the trampled monarchy killed me.

Carl Faberge had four sons, they continued their father's work, but did not achieve such fame as their father had in the world of jewelry.

The merit of the Faberge jewelers is that they are the ones who have the honor of founding that famous Russian jewelry school, the principles of which are the mandatory presence of taste and artistic imagination in any product. These principles are still the basis of work and a guide to action of the best masters.

The famous Russian entrepreneur, jeweler, artist-designer and restorer who turned his father's small workshop into the largest jewelry enterprise in the Russian Empire and one of the largest in the world. (born in 1846 - died in 1920)

In 1902, the first exhibition of the famous Russian jeweler Carl Faberge took place in the halls of the palace of Baron von Derviz on the Promenade des Anglais in St. Petersburg. It was held under the patronage of Her Majesty the Empress Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and with the participation of many members of the imperial family and representatives of the highest nobility of the capital. The Imperial Hermitage has provided beautiful pyramidal showcases on pedestals in the form of gilded griffins to accommodate precious jewelry pieces. These showcases can still be seen in the halls of the Hermitage. They display Easter eggs that belonged to the royal family, stone flowers, figurines and other elegant trinkets from the grand ducal collections, from the collections of princesses Yusupova, Dolgorukova, Kurakina, Countess Vorontsova-Dashkova, Sheremeteva, Orlova-Davydova.

More than a hundred years have passed. Over the years, dozens of Carl Faberge's exhibitions have taken place in different countries of the world, but none of them was as representative in terms of the composition of the owners and those who ordered the priceless exhibits. None of those present at the exhibition then thought that in some two decades, these precious trinkets would be dispersed throughout the world and would be in the wrong hands. They also did not think that in the citadel of power of Russia - in the Winter Palace - there will be almost no amazing examples of Faberge art, made and preserved with genuine and deep love.

The respectful attitude that the name Faberge still evokes all over the world is associated with the revolution in jewelry, which Karl made right after he took over a jewelry workshop from his father. The young jeweler proclaimed the principle that the value of a product was determined not by the richness of the materials used, but by the artistic sophistication of the model and the craftsmanship. Time has proved the validity of the motto, which Faberge was guided by throughout his life: "If the whole value of expensive things consists only in a lot of diamonds or pearls, then they are of little interest to me."

Contemporaries compared Faberge's artistic gift to the genius of Benvenuto Cellini. But the organizational talent of this man is no less astonishing. For his design findings and technical virtuosity, he was called the "Left-handed Petersburg", and for his inimitable style - "the singer of graceful dreams." The master himself called himself quite modestly and with dignity - "Supplier of the Highest Court."

The ancestors of Carl Faberge came from the northern province of France - Picardy. Because of the persecution that the Huguenots were subjected to, starting from the 16th century, they left their homeland and gradually, through Germany and the Baltic States, reached St. Petersburg. Karl's father, Gustav Faberge, was born in 1814 in the Estonian city of Pernau. After studying in St. Petersburg with the famous jewelers Andreas Ferdinand Spiegel and Johann Wilhelm Keibel, he received the title of "Jewelry Master". In 1842, Gustav opened a small jewelry workshop under his own name on Bolshaya Morskaya Street and married Charlotte Jungstedt, the daughter of a Danish artist.

On May 30, 1846, a boy was born into a young family, who was baptized with the name Peter Karl, but in Russia he became famous under the name of Karl Gustavovich. When the child grew up, he was sent to the German private school of St. Anne. Then he studied at the Dresden Handelpool, and then - at the commercial college in Paris. Karl worked in Dresden, Frankfurt am Main, visited England and Italy, studying the jewelry art of the Venetians, Saxon stone cutters and French enamellers. Karl's last teacher was the Frankfurt jeweler Joseph Friedman.

Although the firm of Gustav Faberge flourished, in 1860 he retired and transferred the management of the enterprise to his employees H. Pendin and V. Zayanchovsky. Therefore, after returning to St. Petersburg, the young man worked on the side for quite a long time - as a restorer in the Imperial Hermitage. Thanks to this, he studied the techniques of jewelers of past times and the stylistic features of products made in different eras. As a result, by the age of 26, Karl had acquired a brilliant knowledge of jewelry in all its depth and historical breadth and was able to rightfully take over his father's business. And the outstanding talent of the young man, backed up by solid knowledge, became the basis for future success.

To begin with, Karl moved the company to a larger premises on the same Bolshaya Morskaya street. Sensitive to everything new, he accurately captured the fashion trends in the art of the late 19th century. While the leading jewelers of Europe paid tribute to the tastes and styles of past eras - the Renaissance, Rococo and Empire, Faberge Jr. began to boldly experiment in a new artistic direction - modern. The craving for technical innovations made the master tirelessly study all the techniques known in the jewelry business, constantly visit museums and libraries, never miss a single art exhibition, and get to know young talented jewelers everywhere. He was distinguished by a rare ability not only to find remarkable specialists and persuade them to move to St. Petersburg, but also to create conditions for fruitful work.

Faberge united his father's numerous workshops, where about 500 workers worked by that time. Each workshop was headed by a talented leader: M.E. Perkhin, Yu.A. Rappoport, E.A.Collin, A.F.Hollming, etc. According to the terms of the contract, these masters worked only for Faberge and had the right to recruit themselves and train staff. Karl believed that it was necessary to trust high-class artists, honoring them with the right to sign their own works. The basic principle of work in the Faberge workshops was simple - each product should be made in one workshop by one master. When it was required to perform auxiliary operations (for example, to cover with enamel), the product left its manufacturer for some time, but always returned to him for completion. The craftsmen independently made all decisions, from the design development to the final processing of their jewelry piece. Thus, the Faberge product was not an unnamed product of the House, but the work of the author, whose name it was signed. This was the secret of Faberge's phenomenal success.

In 1882, at the All-Russian Art and Industry Exhibition in Moscow, the company's products attracted the attention of Emperor Alexander III and his wife Maria Feodorovna. Charles received the patronage of the royal family and the title of "Jeweler of His Imperial Majesty and Jeweler of the Imperial Hermitage". In the same year, Karl's brother Agathon began to work in the firm, and soon became the main artist. Agathon Fabergé's visual flair contributed greatly to the company's success.

At the Nuremberg Exhibition of Fine Arts in 1885, the company received international recognition, and copies of the Scythian treasures were awarded a gold medal. After the exhibition, Carl Faberge became a Supplier of the Imperial Court with the right to include a two-headed eagle in his trademark and since then has been constantly fulfilling orders of the imperial family: for example, Emperor Nicholas II ordered a necklace for a wedding gift for the future Empress Alexandra Feodorovna to Faberge.

After 1885, the master received only gold medals at all international exhibitions. The company's products penetrated to America and the Middle East. Personal supplies were destined for the Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Spanish and English courts. By order of the Russian office, the firm's craftsmen made items for diplomatic gifts and various gifts. At different times, masterpieces of jewelry and stone-cutting came out of the hands of the artists of the House of Faberge: a decorative vase for the Abyssinian Negus Menelik, a jade wreath for the tomb of King Oscar II of Sweden, a jade figure of Buddha and an icon lamp for the court temple in Siam. The company had branches in Moscow, Odessa, Kleve and London and sold its products far beyond Europe.

Over the years, the family of Carl Faberge has grown. Married to Augusta Julia Jacobs - the daughter of a master of the Court Furniture Workshops - he had four sons: Eugene (1876-1960), Agathon (1876-1951), Alexander (1877-1952) and Nikolai (1884-1939).

In 1890, the master received another high title - "Appraiser of the Cabinet of His Imperial Majesty", and also became "Hereditary Honorary Citizen". The international fame of the company also grew. High craftsmanship, inexhaustible imagination and graceful forms have made the Faberge firm the recognized leader of the world jewelry art, an unsurpassed standard. Empress Maria Feodorovna wrote to her sister, Queen Anne of England: "Faberge is the incomparable genius of our time."

Leading a large, carefully selected staff of first-class jewelers, Karl went into every detail of the work. In his Moscow store, a greenhouse was set up, in which a wide variety of plants were grown, which served as models for color miniatures made of stone. With the expansion of production and the growth of orders, independent workshops for gold, enamel, silver products, a stone-cutting workshop and a workshop for the manufacture of signs, tokens and orders were allocated. The huge number and variety of manufactured products indicates the popularity and availability of these products for the population. When manufacturing, the tastes and wealth of various strata of society were always taken into account, so the products of the company could be purchased both by members of the imperial house and people with an average income.

Souvenir Easter eggs were a real discovery of the company. The tradition of giving specially made and decorated eggs for Easter appeared in the 16th century, when the French king Francis I was presented with a carved wooden egg depicting the Passion of the Lord. Gilded and painted eggs have become traditional gifts at royal courts. In Russia, the first such egg made of precious materials was ordered by Faberge in 1885 by Alexander III as a gift to his wife, Empress Maria Feodorovna. Later the firm's craftsmen made these gift souvenirs annually. The manufacturing conditions were as follows: egg-shaped, a surprise inside that no one should know about, not even the Emperor, and the impossibility of repetition.

For the crowned Romanov family alone, Faberge created 50 royal Easter eggs - true masterpieces of jewelry. An episode from the life of the royal family was reproduced inside each egg. When the egg was opened, beautiful music played, played by a miniature mechanism. The most famous product in this genre is the egg, dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty. It is adorned with eighteen miniature portraits of representatives of the reigning dynasty in diamond frames. Above and below, flat diamonds are set on the egg, through which the dates "1613" and "1913" are visible. A rotating globe is fixed inside the egg, on which there is twice placed a golden overlay image of the northern hemisphere: on one - the territory of Russia within the borders of 1613 is marked with colored gold, on the other - within the borders of 1913.The surface of the egg in the space between the miniatures is decorated with chased heraldic royal crowns and crowns. The stand is a cast silver gilded figure of the coat of arms of the eagle, mounted on a round base of purple, imitating the national shield.

The egg, dedicated to the coronation of Emperor Nicholas II in 1896, contains a miniature carriage in which the emperor and empress rode. The color scheme of the egg resembles the coronation dress of Alexandra Feodorovna, the carriage doors open, the steps are folded, the windows are made of crystal. Another tiny egg with diamonds hangs inside the carriage.

In addition, the masters of the House of Faberge quite often made miniature copies of famous works of art from precious materials, for example, royal regalia. The Fabergé firm managed to revive the medieval technique of transparent enamel "guilloche". The craftsmen used it together with machine engraving, widely using the color palette of enamels: blue, bright red, light pink, pale yellow, silver. After coating, the enamel was carefully polished, so that the pattern stood out only at a certain angle. And the technique "quatra color" forgotten since the Renaissance, that is, the use of gold in red, yellow, green and white colors, the masters of the company not only revived, but also began to use new shades of this metal - orange, gray, blue and others ... This technique made it possible to achieve the most complex color scheme without the involvement of any other finishing materials.

The company produced many utilitarian things: photo frames, watches, pencil cases, cigarette cases, bonbonnieres, perfume bottles, cane knobs and much more. Silver, precious and semi-precious stones were widely used. Moreover, precious materials were boldly combined with wood, steel and glass. The personal merit of the Faberge firm was the widespread use of domestic ornamental stones in the work, which were not previously used in jewelry. For the first time, Ural, Altai and Trans-Baikal gems were boldly combined in one product with precious metals and stones. Contrary to the established traditions and canons, the craftsmen included tin and blued steel in some of the jewelry, and rectangular brooches from Karelian birch, set in diamonds, with the light hand of Faberge, immediately became fashionable.

Small sculptural figurines of precious and semi-precious stones, made by the company's skillful carvers, who were able to subtly reveal the natural beauty of the stone, were completely new in the jewelry business. Moreover, stones of different colors and textures were often glued together. Fabergé began making these figurines under the influence of the Japanese netsuke that he collected. The English queen showed particular interest in such miniatures, for whom Karl made 170 figurines.

Fulfilling orders from the Russian Imperial and Royal Courts of Europe, Faberge and his craftsmen managed to create more than 150,000 pieces of jewelry, simple and complex, witty and surprisingly thoughtful, executed with unsurpassed ingenuity and the greatest care. In each new product Karl tried to surpass the previous one in originality, ingenuity of design, and quality of execution. In Faberge's workshops, all things were done in only one copy, and if the customer insisted on repetition, then changes were made in such a way that each product remained original. Items that did not meet the firm's high criteria were ruthlessly destroyed or sold without a brand.

The peak of fame of the House of Faberge was the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris. Carl Faberge was one of the jury members, and his products were exhibited in a separate room. After this exhibition, he received the title of "Master of the Paris Guild of Jewelers" and the Order of the Legion of Honor. The Parisian guild of goldsmiths honored him with the title of master. Karl's eldest son, Eugene, received a palm branch there - the badge of an officer of the Academy of Fine Arts, and many of the company's craftsmen were awarded gold and silver medals. In the same year, the Fabergé family and his company moved to a new home. Before that, during the complete reconstruction of the building, the facade was re-finished, for which, for the first time in the history of the city, red granite from Karelia was used.

In 1902, a charitable exhibition of Faberge products was held in St. Petersburg with great success. It was the first time that items made by orders of titled persons were presented to the general public. One hall was completely dedicated to the company's products,

belonging to the Imperial court.

On the eve of 1914, about 600 people worked in the Faberge workshops. The outbreak of the First World War reduced production, but the company adapted its workshops to the needs of wartime. At first, they made pans, plates, mugs, tobacco holders, and after receiving a military order, they began to produce shock and remote tubes, grenades, and parts of devices. Brooches made of gold and diamonds with the sign of the Red Cross were also produced there. The military department has repeatedly put Faberge products as an example for the accuracy and thoroughness of manufacture. At the same time, Faberge did not stop fulfilling orders for the royal family.

By 1914, the Faberge firm had created about 100 thousand items. At this time, along with the old masters, Karl's four sons were already working there. They all studied in St. Petersburg and were talented artists. The sons were in charge of the company's branches: Eugene and Agafon in St. Petersburg, Alexander in Moscow, and Nikolai in London. The First World War dealt a severe blow to the well-being of the company, and the revolution of 1917 destroyed it completely. The branches of the company were closed in 1918, the store in Moscow was open until February 1919.

In 1918, with the help of the British Embassy, \u200b\u200bKarl Faberge left Petrograd with his family for Switzerland (only Agafon Karlovich remained in Russia). Abroad, deprived of the opportunity to do what he loved, he suffered painfully from inaction. Those around him during this period often heard from him: “such a life is no longer life, when I cannot work and be useful. There is no point in living like that. " In Lausanne on September 24, 1920, the great master died. Later, his ashes were transported to France and buried in Cannes.

In the emigration of Paris, Eugene and Alexander Faberge opened a small enterprise "Faberge and Co.", which traded in old products of the company, as well as engaged in the manufacture and design of new ones. It closed in 1960, when the last of the family members who worked there, Eugene Faberge, died. And although the store of the company still exists, now it has other owners. Agafon Karlovich, a major expert on stone, after the revolution, together with academician Fersman, was a member of the commission that described the Diamond Fund of the USSR. In December 1927 he and his family left for Finland on the ice of the Gulf of Finland. His son Oleg lived and recently died in Helsinki, he was not involved in jewelry business.

The youngest of the Faberge brothers, Nikolai, opened a branch of the firm in London in 1906. And although in 1917 he had to close the store, he did not leave the English capital. His son Theo was born here, who later continued the work of his grandfather and father. Theo, the only living descendant of the Faberge dynasty, who works not only with precious stones, but also engages in woodcarving and ivory, painting on porcelain.

In the entire history of the House of Fabergé, more than 150 thousand pieces of jewelry were made. After the revolution, the Soviet government sold a significant part of the unique collection to Great Britain and the United States. Of the 56 Easter eggs, eight were destroyed, and only ten are kept today in the Armory in Moscow. The rest are scattered in private collections in different countries.

In the spring of 2003, the exhibition “Faberge - Return to Russia” was opened in Moscow, where for the first time the most famous Easter eggs brought from abroad were demonstrated to a wide audience. Interest in the products of the famous Russian jewelry company increased enormously at the turn of the century. Thus, 1992 UNESCO declared the “Year of Faberge”. Exhibitions were successfully held in Moscow, St. Petersburg, London, Paris. They contributed to the accumulation of knowledge about the company's products, their scientific study, and the identification of counterfeits. And in St. Petersburg, on Bolshaya Morskaya Street, the Yakhont jewelry store was reopened, in which old oak counters were preserved until 1962. On the facade you can still read the inscription "Faberge". Nowadays, the first floor of the building houses OJSC Jewelery Trade of the North-West, which has united jewelry stores in the Northern Capital and nearby cities of Russia.

Elena Vasilieva, Yuri Pernatiev

From the book "50 famous businessmen of the XIX - early XX century."

(1846-1920) russian jeweler

His ancestors were French Huguenots. They fled from religious persecution in Germany, and from there in 1800 they moved to Estonia, where Karl's grandfather worked as a carpenter. Then the family moved to St. Petersburg, and here Karl's father, Gustav Faberge, founded a jewelry company.

Carl Faberge joined the firm in 1866 when he was twenty years old. At that time, they only produced jewelry. And just six years later, in 1872, Carl Faberge took over the firm. By this time, he traveled to Europe and got acquainted with the products of the largest jewelry firms - Massé, Coulon, Boucheron.

However, it took another ten years before his company won first all-Russian and then world fame. Along with jewelry, Faberge began to produce "useful items" - watches, cigarette cases, ashtrays, magnifiers, lamps, lorgnets and even table setting items. Much credit for this belongs to Karl's younger brother Agathon Faberge. With his arrival in the company, the list of manufactured products has expanded.

In 1882, Carl Faberge made copies of Scythian jewelry for the Hermitage. This work attracted the attention of the emperor, who placed the first order for an Easter egg in 1885. Carl Faberge received the title of "Supplier of the Imperial Court", and in 1890 he was appointed "Appraiser of the Cabinet of His Imperial Majesty." The triumph of the company was in 1894, when Carl Faberge made a pearl necklace for a wedding gift to the future Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.

Since that time, Faberge has consistently received gold medals at all international exhibitions. He opened several workshops in St. Petersburg, each of which specialized in performing certain types of work - stone-cutting, enamel, gold and silver. Carl Faberge opens stores in Moscow, Kiev, Odessa and London. The apogee of the fame of the House of Faberge was the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris, where Karl received the title of Master of the Paris Guild of Jewelers and the Order of the Legion of Honor.

The company's products were supplied to the Middle East, America, as well as to the Danish, Spanish, Swedish and Norwegian royal courts. But the English royal house had a special love for Faberge. Queen Alexandra once even expressed a desire to meet the jeweler, but the great master was embarrassed and hastily left London.

It is necessary to say about those to whom Faberge owes his glory. These are, first of all, remarkable jewelers - Mikhail Perkhin, Franz Birnbaum and Henrik Wigstrom. Major artists and architects also worked for him, for example Fyodor Shekhtel and Viktor Vasnetsov.

Fabergé has often been criticized for being oversaturated with jewelry. His things seemed like costly trinkets, not works of art. Indeed, he thought of some things as toy soldiers or animal figurines made of gems. But even these things Faberge turned into true masterpieces. “I am not interested in an expensive thing if its price lies only in the fact that a lot of diamonds or pearls are planted,” he said.

In 1902, an exhibition of the firm's products was also held in St. Petersburg, where for the first time items made by orders of titled persons were shown. During the First World War, the Faberge workshops made copper pots and plates, as well as awards for Russian soldiers.

The firm was closed in 1918. By this time, the house of Faberge had produced from 120 to 150 thousand items. Carl Faberge left Russia and died in Switzerland in 1920. Later, his ashes were transferred to France and buried in Cannes.

After the revolution and in the 1920s, Faberge products had practically no value. In the 1930s, the famous Easter eggs could be bought at auctions for only a few hundred dollars. And only in our days there is a new interest in Faberge: in 1992, a Faberge Easter egg was sold for more than three million dollars.

😉 Welcome new and regular readers! In the article "Carl Faberge: Biography of the Great Jeweler" - a short biography and facts from the life of the famous master.

Friends, in my youth I first heard about Carl Faberge. I thought he was French. In Soviet times, his name was not often mentioned. Much later, to my surprise, I learned that the world famous jeweler is ours! He was born, lived and worked in St. Petersburg. Dossier:

• full name - Peter Karl Faberge;
• date of birth - May 30, 1846;
• zodiac sign -
• place of birth: St. Petersburg, Russian Empire;
• date of death - September 24, 1920 (74 years old);
• place of death - Lausanne, Switzerland;
• occupation: jeweler;
• father - Gustav Faberge. Mother - Charlotte Jungstedt;
• sons: Eugene, Agathon, Alexander, Nikolay.

His father Gustav came from a German family of French roots. He was a modest jeweler who had had his own business since 1841. His mother, Charlotte Jungstedt, was the daughter of a Danish artist.

History of success

When Karl was 14 years old, the family moved to Dresden. From there, the father sends his son on a trip to Europe. He stays for a long time in Frankfurt am Main. There he begins to master jewelry. The journey then continues in and out of Paris.

After returning to Russia, at the age of 24, he took over his father's jewelry company. From a small jewelry workshop, it quickly becomes the largest enterprise in St. Petersburg with several branches. In Moscow since 1887, Odessa (1890), London (1903) and Kiev (1905).

Faberge Jr. tirelessly studies all the techniques known in jewelry, visits museums and libraries. He does not miss a single art exhibition and gets acquainted with young talents everywhere.

He was distinguished by a rare ability to find talents, to convince them of moving to distant and mysterious Petersburg, and then to create conditions under which they could fully reveal themselves.

In 1870 the staff of the company already totals one hundred people (later it grows to 500). The unsurpassed Faberge remained the main source of ideas and the judge of embodied ideas always and under any conditions.

The personal merit of the successful company was the widespread use in practice of domestic ornamental gemstones, which were previously considered "non-jewelry". Altai, Ural, Transbaikal gems are boldly combined with precious metals and stones.

Supplier of the Imperial Court

The first overwhelming success came in 1882. At the All-Russian Art and Industry Exhibition in Moscow, the company's products received a gold medal. A year later, the master receives orders from the yard. Faberge soon begins to be called the "Supplier of the Imperial Court" with the right to have an image of the State Emblem on the signboard.

Carl Faberge and the talented craftsmen of his company created the first jewelry egg in 1885. It was ordered by Tsar Alexander III as an Easter surprise for his wife Maria Feodorovna.

The empress was so delighted with the gift that the ingenious master, who turned into a court jeweler, received an order to make an egg every year. Each piece had to be unique and contain some kind of surprise. This was the only condition.

The next emperor kept this tradition. Each egg was a unique world masterpiece.

At the 1900 World's Fair in Paris, Karl wins the "Grand Prix". The French government awards him the Legion of Honor.

The company's fame grew like a snowball. Courts of Europe, primarily England, Eastern monarchs, large industrialists, financiers and other celebrities, become its customers.

The range of manufactured products was extremely wide. In addition to jewelry, watches, snuff boxes, cigarette cases, souvenirs, sets, silverware, jewelry boxes and miniature sculptural toys were made.

Far from home

But then the October Revolution of 1917 made its own adjustments. The Faberge House was closed in November 1918. Miraculously, and only with the help of the British government, the owner manages to emigrate abroad. First to Germany and then to Switzerland.

But there was no longer the strength to raise everything anew, and there was not enough money either. In 1920, Peter Carl Faberge dies in poverty, far from his homeland and his creations. Together with his death, the brilliant era of Faberge ends.

In this video additional information "Carl Faberge: Biography"

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