Talk on the history of Fabergé
objets d’art was presented by Kieran McCarthy of the
Kieran
McCarthy, an expert on the history of Fabergé, spoke
in English about the work of the Carl Fabergé workshop.
The talk was very well attended by CamRuss members
and many English-speaking non-members.
The talk
was illustrated by slides, which showed the great variety of objects produced
by Fabergé, in addition to the better known and
justly celebrated Russian Imperial Easter eggs. The objects shown were of
extraordinary beauty and delicacy, many of them with a particular history
attached to their creation. They ranged from practical, but very beautiful
objects, such as photo-frames and bell-pushes for newly invented
electric bells, to delicate flowers made from rock and rock crystal, animal
figurines and cigarette cases.
Kieran
outlined the history of these objects, created to fulfil demand for unusual and
expensive gifts among Russian and British royalty and aristocracy. Fabergé not only provided the artistic inspiration for
these objects, but showed himself to be a hard-headed
entrepreneur, often anticipating demand for objects of a certain type.
Although
the materials used by Fabergé were often not of great
intrinsic value, the techniques used to produce them required extraordinary craftsmanship
which no longer exists today and cannot be reproduced, making these objects unique
and inimitable. Some pieces created by teams of work-masters in Fabergé’s workshop took two years to produce. They are
still rising in value, topping £22 million for the recent purchase of a Fabergé egg.