Peter Carl Faberge

Peter Carl Fabergé was a Russian jeweler and goldsmith who was best known for the famous Fabergé eggs made in the style of genuine Easter eggs, but using precious metals and gemstones rather than more mundane materials. He was one of the sons of the founder of the famous jewelry legacy House of Fabergé. He was trained in St. Petersburg, Frankfurt, and Dresden, and he absorbed influences across western Europe with travels to Paris and London. He inherited his father's business in 1870 and continued to manufacture jewelry and decorative objects while expanding the firm's concentration to include furniture, functional objects, and, famously, objects of fancy. Assisted by his brother, Agathon, who joined the firm in 1882, as well as his sons and associates headed by the Swiss artisan François Berbaum, Fabergé gained recognition as a brilliant designer, specializing in precious and semiprecious materials such as gold, silver, malachite, jade, lapis lazuli, and gems. Much of his work was inspired by the decorative arts executed under King Louis XVI of France, but the firm also drew from influences that included the traditional arts of Russia and Renaissance Italy as well as from the Rococo style. Some later pieces reflected the emerging Art Nouveau style. Fabergé's workshop soon became famous for expertly crafted works including flowers, figure groups, bibelots, animals, and, above all, the celebrated imperial Easter eggs. Fabergé's emphasis on fine craftsmanship, creativity, and beauty in his work—rather than a focus merely on the size of the gems he was setting, as had been the case with much of traditional jewelry design—drew the delight and interest of his aristocratic patrons. It was the display of works in Moscow's Pan-Russian Exhibition (1882), where he was awarded a gold medal, that helped to establish his reputation among Russian nobility. In 1885 Fabergé was appointed jeweler and goldsmith to the Russian imperial court. The elaborate fanciful eggs that he created for members of the court, and the less expensive eggs that were crafted for the general market, remain Fabergé's best-known creations. He also created many other exquisite pieces for the royal family and other wealthy clients, such as jewelry, snuffboxes, desk sets, frames, clocks, and miniature animals. He employed hundreds of craftsmen and opened branches in Moscow, Kiev, Odessa, and London. He also participated in many international exhibitions and received numerous awards and honors for his work. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Fabergé's business was nationalized and he fled the country. He settled in Switzerland, where he died in 1920. His name and legacy live on in the Fabergé Museum in St. Petersburg, which houses the largest collection of his works, as well as in the Fabergé brand, which continues to produce jewelry and luxury goods.