RUSSIA: The gem masterpieces of 19th-century court jeweller Carl Faberge are brought home by rich collectors

Record ID: 751637

  • Title: RUSSIA: The gem masterpieces of 19th-century court jeweller Carl Faberge are brought home by rich collectors
  • Date: 10th April 2011
  • Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (APRIL 6, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIOR USPENSKAYA KREMLIN BELL TOWER WITH SIGN DISPLAYING CARL FABERGE EXHIBIT VARIOUS INTERIOR OF EXHIBIT WITH VISITORS AND MEDIA VARIOUS FABERGE EASTER EGGS "STANDART" YACHT EGG ALEXANDER III MONUMENT EGG WOMEN VIEWING FABERGE EASTER EGG ALEXANDER PALACE EGG WOMAN LOOKING AT DISPLAY J. PAUSIE BOUQUET OF PRECIOUS STONE FLOWERS FLOWER BOUQUETS IN DISPLAY CASE FABERGE FORGET-ME-NOTS AND PANSY FABERGE PANSY WITH PORTRAITS OF NICHOLAS II CHILDREN GENERAL DIRECTOR OF KREMLIN MUSEUM, YELENA GAGARINA VARIOUS FABERGE COSSACK SOLDIERS (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) GENERAL DIRECTOR OF KREMLIN MUSEUM, YELENA GAGARINA, SAYING: "The coloured stones that were not as valued were used very rarely, and not for the first class pieces of art, that were used at celebratory events. Thanks to Faberge coloured stones became fashionable and began to be used everywhere and it's difficult to imagine now that it hasn't always been like that." STONE ANIMALS ON DISPLAY FABERGE ELEPHANT PARROT BIRD AND OWL OWL (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT OF MOSCOW KREMLIN MUSEUMS, VICTORIA PAVLENKO SAYING: "At the exhibit not only 17 museums are taking part but also eight private collectors who actually travel to world auctions. They've already become experts in this field and they hunt out and return to Russia these items that, because of fate, turned out to be abroad." WOMAN VIEWING FABERGE EGGS "MEMORY OF AZOV" EGG BOUQUET OF LILIES CLOCK EGG WIDE OF EXHIBITION HALL
  • Embargoed: 25th April 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Russian Federation
  • Country: Russia
  • Topics: Entertainment,History,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA2O5QB3BIEF0YADQVT9GSO79VE
  • Story Text: Gem masterpieces of Russian 19th-century court jeweller Carl Faberge, widely popular abroad and regaining popularity at home, will be open to the public on a display at a Kremlin Museums exhibit in the Uspenskaya bell tower in the heart of Russia's capital starting Friday (April 8).
    Six 10-centimetre-tall Faberge eggs, gem flowers that used to go on royal dresses, animal sculptures and figures of soldiers that served under Catherine the Great, stand together with carved stone Soviet sculptures.
    The Faberge company was founded in 1842 in St. Petersburg and gained fame for designing elaborate jewel-encrusted eggs for Russia's Tsars. Among the eggs on display is the "Bouquet of Lilies Clock" egg that was a gift from Emperor Nicholas II to Empress Alexandra Feodorovna on Easter, 1899.
    General Director of the Kremlin Museums, Yelena Gagarina said that the work of jeweller Carl Faberge served to bring coloured precious and semi-precious stones into fashion.
    "The coloured stones that were not as valued were used very rarely, and not for the first class pieces of art, that were used at celebratory events. Thanks to Faberge coloured stones became fashionable and began to be used everywhere and it's difficult to imagine now that it hasn't always been like that," Gagarina - also the daughter of famed Russian cosmonaut Yury Gagarin - said at the exhibit's early opening for journalists on Wednesday (April 6).
    Much of the Faberge jewellery and sculpture collection was sold abroad by the Bolsheviks in Soviet era, and most of the 46 imperial eggs that survived remain outside Russia today.
    With the change in Russia's ruling regime in the early 1990s, however, and the change in bank account sizes of many Russian businessmen, some of Russia's art heritage has begun its way back home.
    Victoria Pavlenko, head of the department of Moscow Kremlin Museums said that many of the exhibit's pieces were on loan from wealthy Russian collectors who have focused on finding and retrieving scattered Russian treasures.
    "At the exhibit not only 17 museums are taking part but also eight private collectors who actually travel to world auctions. They've already become experts in this field and they hunt out and return to Russia these items that, because of fate, turned out to be abroad," Pavlenko said.
    Russia now has in its possession 19 of the famed Faberge eggs - 10 in the Kremlin Armory and nine in the holdings of Russian tycoon Viktor Vekselberg, who in 2004 bought out the Malcolm Forbes' Faberge collection, making Russia the owner of more Faberge eggs than any other country.
    The Carl Faberge exhibit at the Kremlin Museums will remain open through the end of July.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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