Arrangement of the Exhibition

Fabergé in America is organized chronologically by the periods during which they entered American collections. The exhibition begins with the period before World War I, when Fabergé pieces were acquired by several of the wealthiest Americans who traveled to Saint Petersburg and London, often purchasing their works from the master himself. On view are works acquired by clients such as Henry C. Walters of Baltimore, who visited Fabergé's shop several times in 1900 and is considered the first American collector of his work, followed by the Duchess of Marlborough (Consuelo Vanderbilt), and J. P. Morgan, Jr.

The next section covers the period from 1920 to 1950, when the greatest Fabergé collections in the United States were formed. Because of the changed political climate and the need to raise capital, the Soviets began selling portions of their newly nationalized collections, creating a market for artifacts of pre-Revolutionary Russia, including the work of Fabergé. Sparked by several innovative exhibitions that were organized in the United States by Armand Hammer--one of the few Americans privileged to do business in post-Revolutionary Russia--and fueled by the tragic story of the czar and his family and romantic notions of their legendary empire, American interest in collecting Fabergé increased dramatically. In addition, many Fabergé works had been brought to the United States by imperial family members and other wealthy immigrants from Russia, who often used their collections as gifts and even currency in establishing themselves in their new home.

As the market grew, two New York galleries--Hammer and A La Vieille Russie--emerged as dominant forces in introducing the American public to the beauty of Fabergé. Many of the highlights of Fabergé in America come from the renowned collections that were formed with the help of these dealers. Matilda Geddings Gray of New Orleans and Lake Charles, Louisiana, acquired more than 50 works, including the Lilies of the Valley Basket (1896), which was Czarina Alexandra Feodorovna's favorite Fabergé object, and is among Fabergé's most magical creations. The Peter the Great Egg (1903) and Czarevich Egg (1912) are just two of the four imperial eggs among the 57 objects on view that were collected by Lillian Thomas Pratt. From the collection of India Early Minshall are delicate flower studies made of pearls, diamonds, jade, and gold set in rock crystal vases carved to look as if they contain water. The Minshall collection's Red Cross Egg, presented by Nicholas II to his wife in 1915, opens to an enamel painting of the harrowing of hell, and is solemnly emblematic of the circumstances of its creation, honoring the czarinas who nursed soldiers injured in World War I. Cleveland's India Minshall was an expert on Russian imperial history, although she never visited that country. According to Cleveland's curator of Renaissance and Later Decorative Arts and Sculpture, Henry Hawley, the rococo style and high-quality workmanship of the Cleveland museum's Miniature Shoe suggest it was made by Mikhail Perkhin, head of Fabergé's workshop until 1903.

Cereal heiress and philanthropist Marjorie Merriweather Post was the only one of the five principal Fabergé collectors to actually live in Russia--for 18 months in the late 1930s with her husband Joseph E. Davies, then U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union. Although Post did not purchase any of her nearly 90 pieces of Fabergé during this tenure--most of it had already been exported by the Hammers or sold independently--she developed an abiding appreciation for Russian art and aesthetics that complemented her other collections of French furniture, tapestries, and porcelain. Among the Fabergé works from the Post collection in the exhibition are the Catherine the Great Egg (1914), carved hardstone and diamond boxes, intricately decorated gold and ivory picture frames, and an elaborate table clock that once belonged to Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna.

Between 1950 and 1980 the most distinguished collection of Fabergé in the U.S.--and perhaps the premiere collection in the world--was formed by Malcolm S. Forbes. The Forbes Magazine Collection is renowned for its 12 imperial Easter eggs (the Kremlin has only 10), five of which are featured in Fabergé in America. They include the Coronation Egg (1897), whose velvet lining holds a carriage that took 15 months to create and is one of Fabergé's great triumphs of realism in miniature. Forbes's Chanticleer Egg (1904) is one of the largest Fabergé Easter eggs known today--over a foot tall when its enameled rooster inside emerges from the top to mark the hour by bobbing its head and flapping its wings. Among the numerous personal and desk accessories Forbes acquired and enjoyed using is a writing portfolio that was among Nicholas and Alexandra's coronation presents. His opera glasses are illustrated here.

The Chanticleer Egg and many other works in Forbes's collection were part of two earlier celebrated Fabergé collections, those of Jack and Belle Linsky and Helen and Lansdell K. Christie, which were dispersed through sales by A La Vieille Russie.

The final section of Fabergé in America, on view in gallery 102, displays forgeries compared to genuine objects. Since the late 1930s, when the prices for Fabergé began to rise, forgers have been active in attempting to cash in on the value of his works and the passion with which they are collected. While straight copies or exact replicas are generally easy to identify, some forgeries are so well executed that even the experts of Fabergé's oeuvre have been deceived.

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Captions for illustrations in this article:
Opera Glasses, gold, enamel, diamonds, glass, Forbes Magazine Collection, New York.

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Miniature Shoe, bloodstone, gold, diamonds, silver, before 1903, Cleveland Museum of Art.
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Imperial Lilies of the Valley Basket New Orleans Museum of Art, before 1896, gold, silver, nephrite, pearls, and diamonds.

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