Faberge in America

March 9 - May 11, 1997

Arrnagement of the Exhibition
Exhibition Preview
Biographies
Lady Alexandra's Egg-stravaganza

This stunning collection of nearly 400 precious objects represents the pinnacle of Imperial Russia's opulence, refinement, and artistry. With exceptional ingenuity and meticulous skill, the House of Fabergé crafted marvelous objets d'art including the world-famous Imperial Easter eggs created for czars Alexander III and Nicholas II.

Fabergé's lavish creations have awed generations of admirers. Now you can see these works from American Fabergé collections--the finest in the world--gathered together for the first time.

The exhibition focuses on the social history of American collecting of Fabergé since the late 19th century, a time that witnessed a growing American fascination with imperial Russia. The exhibition coincides with the 150th anniversary of the birth of Peter Carl Fabergé.

Commenting on the exhibition's great popularity since it debuted at the Metropolitan Museum in New York last February, Cleveland Museum director Robert P. Bergman says: "The Fabergé phenomenon is exhilarating. Our offices have taken countless calls from all over the U.S. and Canada about this show since its very first publicity over a year ago. We await with great anticipation the one-millionth visitor to the exhibition, expected sometime during its Cleveland run."

The objects come mainly from collections assembled by five Americans who, beginning in the 1930s, formed major holdings of Fabergé and subsequently put their collections on public view at various institutions across the country: Matilda Geddings Gray (New Orleans Museum of Art), India Early Minshall (Cleveland Museum of Art), Lillian Thomas Pratt (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond), Marjorie Merriweather Post (Hillwood Museum, Washington, D.C.), and Malcolm S. Forbes (The Forbes Magazine Collection, New York). Also featured are works acquired by many other prominent Americans whose collections were later dispersed, as well as objects from such present-day private collections as those of actress-comedienne Joan Rivers and her daughter, Melissa Rivers, and of international business consultant John Traina.

Peter Carl Fabergé developed the firm founded by his father into the most important source of luxury objects in Europe, working fluently in a range of historical styles from antiquity to art nouveau, even adjusting to the somber mood of World War I. The House of Fabergé secured its fame during the reigns of Czars Alexander III (1881-94) and Nicholas II (1894-1917) by creating extraordinary objects for its imperial patrons. Admirable for their ingenuity of design and fine craftsmanship, particularly their virtuosic enameling, Fabergé pieces are no less notable for the many subtly contrasting materials of which they are made--colored golds, shimmering enamels, platinized silver, gemstones, ivory, and a host of semi-precious stones native to Russia such as nephrite, rock crystal, and lapis lazuli.

Though the imperial Easter eggs and the unique surprises they held inside for Czarinas Maria and Alexandra are perhaps the summation of Fabergé's wit and skill, the House of Fabergé also made traditional jewelry and silverware and an imaginative assortment of useful and decorative objects for the Russian court and fashionable people throughout the world. Tea services, desk sets, photograph frames, parasol and cane handles, cigarette cases, button hooks, hand seals, and clocks were among the 150,000 pieces brought forth by the House of Fabergé under Peter Carl Fabergé's guidance.

They range from the sublime presence of a silver- and pearl-framed icon to the beguiling charm of an amazingly realistic carving in agate, chalcedony, and marble of spotted puppies sleeping on a ragged woven mat. In conception they range from a vase--startling in its simplicity--carved from a huge piece of topaz, to the Imperial Catherine the Great Easter Egg (illustrated at the beginning of this article), painted with cameo-like enamels of allegorical scenes and attributes of the seasons and covered with four-color gold musical instruments, tools of the arts and sciences, and trophies; the Catherine the Great Egg's surprise, now lost, was a mechanical sedan chair carried by servants with the empress seated inside. The Napoleonic Egg illustrated below does still have its surprise--a set of medallions celebrating Prince Kutuzov's victory over Napoleon in 1812.

The success of the House of Fabergé was sustained until the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the murder of the imperial family.

To continue, please see the arrangement of the exhibition

Captions for illustrations in this article:
Imperial Catherine the Great Easter Egg, gold, diamond, pearls, enamel, 1914, Hillwood Museum, Washington, DC.
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Imperial Napoleonic Easter Egg, gold, enamel, diamonds, platinum, ivory, velvet, silk, 1912, from the New Orleans Museum of Art.
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Czar Nicholas II family photo from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA. Bequest of Lillian Thomas Pratt.
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Fabergé in America has been organized by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

The exhibition is made possible by FABERGÉ CO. FABERGÉ CO. is the purveyor of Fabergé lifestyle products, and the owner of the Fabergé trademark.

The Cleveland showing is sponsored by the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies and KeyBank. Additional support is provided by the Ohio Arts Council. Promotional support is provided by WDOK 102.1 FM and AM 850 WRMR and The Plain Dealer.

Archduke Dr. Géza von Habsburg, noted author and international authority on Fabergé, is the guest curator of Fabergé in America.