A DELICATE ANTIQUE TWO-COLOURED SAPPHIRE AND GOLD BRACELET, BY FABERGÉ

The Man When Gustav Fabergé (1814-1891) became known as 'The Master of Jewellery', specialising in diamonds, nobody foresaw that the success of his son Peter Carl would eclipse that of his father. Carl Fabergé enjoyed a cosmopolitan education in both St. Petersburg and Dresden, where he and his brother Agathon spent many a day in the Grünes Gewölbe, Europes largest collection of treasures. Their education included travels to France, England and Italy before he accepted an apprenticeship with a jeweller in Frankfurt. In 1870, he took over the family business. That Carl Fabergé was a master jeweller himself has never been doubted. However, had he restricted himself to this task alone, the world today would have much fewer Fabergé articles to appreciate. For one man can produce only a limited number of artefacts - no matter how hard he works. Endowed with an extraordinary business acumen, Fabergé was to usher the art of the jeweller into a new era. The Business His novel approach was to approve all designs, even designing some items himself, but never actually crafting them. This task he entrusted to workmasters whom he fostered by offering rent-free premises and by providing the materials they needed. At the height of Fabergé's success, Carl employed up to two dozen workmasters each with their own assistants and staff, producing the finest jewels and objets d'art. The finished product would usually carry Fabergé's mark, but it was not his intention to steal from his talented colleagues: the worthy were given the right to sign their jewels with their initials alongside the Fabergé signature. Thus an efficient and progressive system was put into place to produce distinctive objects of the highest quality in large quantities. When Carl's younger brother Agathon, then aged 20, joined the business in 1882, the two brothers decided to scale down on the jewellery production and to focus on objets d'art. Together with their talented workmasters they revolutionised the art of the jeweller, be it on technical, stylistical or economical grounds. After all, Fabergé's system of labour division was a modern concept thriving in a country that was still trapped in the feudal system. The new system was efficient and productive and allowed all parties to reap the rewards. However, Fabergé refused to compromise on quality, no matter how pressed they were with increasing demand: workmanship of anything less than the highest standard was not tolerated and if they were not worthy to carry the Fabergé hallmark, they were destroyed as an issue of quality control. In 1899, Fabergé published a policy which read: 'We only offer objects which are in perfect condition; this means each item - even if the value is not higher than one rouble - is fabricated with precision in all details'. Clients were further assured that 'old items which are out of fashion are not kept in stock: once a year they are collected and destroyed' and that 'we are selling our objects as cheaply as the precise execution and workmanship permits.' Life was hard but satisfying for the workmasters and craftsmen. Typically, they would begin work at 7 o'clock in the morning and might not be finished until 11 o'clock at night, although officially the hours were much shorter. On Sundays it was normal to work between 8 o'clock in the morning and 1 o'clock. Still, there was no air of slavery: the men enjoyed good rates of pay for the hours they put in, in addition to an almost unique job security, often beyond pensionable age. As a result of Fabergé's sensible and sensitive leadership there was a one-of-a-kind esprit de corps. The Workmasters Head workmaster Michael Evlampietvitch Perchin (1860-1903) was one of the few goldsmiths of Russian origin to achieve fame among Fabergé's craftsmen. Somewhat of a fairytale figure, he was born a peasant at a time when escaping peasant status was nothing short of a miracle. Probably self-taught he qualified as a Master in 1884, having previously worked for head workmaster Erik Kollin whom he was to replace in 1886. Perchin enjoyed rare authority over his apprentices. Together with Carl and Agathon Fabergé, he introduced new techniques and inventions such as transparent enamel and vari-coloured gold, the Imperial Easter Eggs as well as hardstone animals and flowers. His style echoed the 18th century Rococo period and that of French king Louis XV, of which the blue enamelled picture frame with applied fleur-de-lys (lot 215) is a fine example. Workmaster August Frerik Hollming (1854-1913) qualified as Master in 1880 and was hired by Fabergé soon after. Together with Henrik Wigström, who succeeded Perchin as head workmaster, Hollming was the chief artisan of the large majority of Fabergé's cigarette cases, and also specialised in miniature Easter Eggs and enamelled cufflinks and small jewellery such as the bracelet of lot 213. Johan Victor Aarne (1863-1934) had worked in August Holmström's workshop from 1880 to 1890 before he returned to Finland to qualify as Master in 1890. Back in St. Petersburg he worked exclusively for Fabergé from 1891 to 1904. Specialising in enamelled miniature frames, his creations were often decorated with four-colour gold swags as showcased in his green enamel frame offered as lot 214. THE PROPERTY OF A LADY

Details

A DELICATE ANTIQUE TWO-COLOURED SAPPHIRE AND GOLD BRACELET, BY FABERGÉ
The centre set with a blue and a yellow cushion-shaped sapphire each within a rose-cut diamond surround flanking the rose-cut diamond central link with a circular-cut diamond collet to the flexible fancy-link gold bracelet, with one additional link, circa 1900, 18.5 cm long, with Russian assay mark 56 for 14k gold, in fitted wooden Fabergé case
With workmaster's mark A*H for August Frederik Hollming, scratched inventory no. 20864 (2)

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