Faberge Revealed

Book excerpt: The exquisite objects created by goldsmith and jeweler Peter Carl Fabergé and his studio in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for the aristocracy and nobility of imperial Russia are considered to be some of the most refined examples of the jeweler's art of any age. Of greatest fascination are the extraordinary Easter eggs created as special commissions for the Russian imperial family and other notable patrons - works that remain unparalleled in their ingenuity of construction and sheer beauty. Accompanying a major exhibition Faberge Revealed represents a landmark for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and for Fabergé scholarship. The essays by Géza von Habsburg and other scholars present new findings on Fabergé, his workshops, and the creation of these extraordinary objects. For the first time all items by or attributed to Fabergé in VMFA's collection are documented along with the museum's significant holdings of other Russian decorative arts. Also included is a section on forgeries that bravely confronts this vexing question. Every object has been splendidly re-photographed for this book - and the detailed photography alone should provide inestimable value for future Fabergé scholarship. Richly illustrated with some 600 photographs, the volume documents an important collection bequeathed in 1947 to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts by Lillian Thomas Pratt, of Fredericksburg, Va., the wife of General Motors executive John Lee Pratt. Her collection, assembled between 1933 and 1946, comprised several hundred creations by the Faberge workshops and by other Russian imperial jewelers. These exquisite, marvelously crafted objects, range from the majestic jeweled imperial eggs to delicate jeweled flowers in vases to diamond-encrusted icons and tiaras, to animal figures nimbly carved from precious stone. Contents: Introduction by Géza von Habsburg Chapter 1: The House of Fabergé/by Géza von Habsburg Chapter 2: Behind the Scenes at Fabergé: The St. Petersburg Workshops/ by Ulla Tillander-Godenhieim Chapter 3: Fabergé and His Russian Competitors/ by Géza von Habsburg Chapter 4: Fabergé and His Foreign Competitors Chapter 5: Mrs. Pratt's Imperial Easter Eggs / by Carol Aiken Chapter 6: The Zarnitza Sailor and His Place in History / by Christel Ludewig McCaniess Chapter 7: Fabergé and Grand Duchess Vladimir / by Alexander von Solodkoff Chapter 8: Lillian Thomas Pratt and A La Vieille Russie: A Personal Relationship/ by Mark Schaffer Chapter 9: Fauxbergé / by Géza von Habsburg Catalogue: Fabergé/Other Makers/Forgeries