In 2014, we mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Gustav Fabergé (1814–1894), founder of the legendary St. Petersburg firm Fabergé. For a long time now, the name Fabergé has been a global benchmark of jewelry art, inextricably linked with great Russian culture.
This anniversary year, 2014, is also notable because it has been declared the Year of Culture in Russia. It is possible that the planned exhibitions, timed to the anniversary of Gustav Fabergé, will help us better appreciate the significance of the Fabergé phenomenon in world culture—thanks to the extraordinary talent of Gustav’s son, Carl Fabergé—and for some, at least simply to become acquainted with it. Until recently, in the endless stream of publications devoted to the firm’s history, only the color illustrations changed, accompanied by groundless inventions by authors who fancied themselves biographers and experts on Fabergé’s work.
The first biographical book was written by H. C. Bainbridge in 1949. The author received the main information about the Master from Gustav Fabergé’s grandson, who, despite Bainbridge’s reputation, nevertheless decided to cooperate with him. This book marked the beginning of Western Fabergé studies.
Over the past 70 years, many books and articles on the firm’s history have been published. In these works, obvious fakes have been attributed to the Fabergé firm and, conversely, Fabergé masterpieces have been unjustifiably ascribed to certain Western firms. Undoubtedly, such arbitrariness could not but damage the firm’s reputation. The views of many researchers on Carl Fabergé—and especially on his work—remain mistaken to this day. Despite the abundance of research, its main protagonists—the founder of the House of Fabergé, Gustav, and his son Carl Fabergé—strangely enough, still remain little studied and enigmatic.
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© 2014 Michel Kamidian (Мишель Камидиан).
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