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The House of Fabergé was founded in St. Petersburg in 1842. Fabergé is best known for its jewelled enamel Easter eggs, but it also produced ornaments, jewels and decorative objects. These include frames, cigarette cases, hardstone animals and flowers.

After studying goldsmithing in several European centres, Peter Carl Fabergé returned to St. Petersburg in 1864 and joined his father’s firm. He took full control of the business in 1882, the same year he first attracted the attention of the Russian imperial family at the Pan-Russian Exhibition in Moscow.

In 1885 the House of Fabergé was issued a royal warrant and received its first commission for an imperial Fabergé egg. Between 1885 and 1916, Fabergé created 50 Easter eggs for the Russian imperial family. The Third Imperial Easter Egg is the most expensive Fabergé egg. It was created for Tsar Alexander III and presented to his wife, Maria Feodorovna, as an Easter gift in 1887. The egg opens to reveal a Vacheron Constantin clock. The egg was lost for many years but resurfaced in 2012. It now resides in a private collection.

In addition to the Fabergé Romanov eggs, the Russian jeweller created the magnificent Duchess of Marlborough Fabergé Egg. It was commissioned by Consuelo Vanderbilt in 1902 and is now on display in the Fabergé Museum in St. Petersburg.

Following the firm’s success in St. Petersburg, in 1887 Fabergé established a branch in Moscow. The monumental works in silver produced there are among the finest objects ever produced by the firm.

In 1900 he was awarded a gold medal and the Légion d’Honneur for the 14 jewel-encrusted Fabergé Easter eggs he presented at the Exposition Universelle in Paris. Fabergé objects were soon coveted by Europe’s elite, routinely serving as diplomatic gifts.

Fabergé opened his first boutique in London in 1903. The firm’s success continued until the 1917 Russian Revolution when Fabergé’s boutiques and workshops were seized by the Bolsheviks. Carl escaped to Switzerland where he died in 1920.

In 2021 a selection of Fabergé masterpieces from the Harry Woolf Collection were offered at Christie’s in London. The sale coincided with the major Fabergé exhibition, Fabergé in London: From Romance to Revolution at the V&A Museum, and realised £5,203,250.

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