The Faberge Museum

Carl Fabergé St Petersburg, c. 1900 Photograph by H. Oberg Courtesy of Wartski, London

Scala Publishers’ offer to participate in their popular Director’s Choice series simultaneously delighted and stumped me. On the one hand, it is enormously gratifying that the Fabergé Museum, which we opened just seven years ago, will be mentioned in the same breath as the great museums of the world. On the other hand, as a specialist who spent over 20 years assembling the future museum’s collection, choosing just 40 items feels like a daunting task. Among the many pieces in the Fabergé Museum’s permanent exhibition are dozens or maybe even hundreds of objects tied to stories and anecdotes from my own life. At the same time, I understand that it is vital for our young museum to share its masterpieces with a wider, global audience. For these reasons, in putting together this book I have attempted to place works of objectively high importance in art history alongside those that I cherish most as a collector, those that speak directly to my soul.

There is a third, no less important criterion that I have applied in making my selection. Our museum bears the name of Carl Fabergé, the great Russian jeweller. If his masterpieces — the imperial Easter eggs, first and foremost — were not considered possibly the most celebrated and valuable works of jewellery art in the world, our museum would not exist. Therefore, any book published by the museum is compelled to discuss the best creations of the House of Fabergé, particularly since, through the efforts of contemporary researchers, new information about them continues to come to light.

To the memory of Carl Fabergé, whose 175th birthday we celebrate in May 2021, I dedicate this book.

Vladimir Voronchenko Director, Fabergé Museum

5

Carl Fabergé St Petersburg, c. 1900 Photograph by H. Oberg Courtesy of Wartski, London

Scala Publishers’ offer to participate in their popular Director’s Choice series simultaneously delighted and stumped me. On the one hand, it is enormously gratifying that the Fabergé Museum, which we opened just seven years ago, will be mentioned in the same breath as the great museums of the world. On the other hand, as a specialist who spent over 20 years assembling the future museum’s collection, choosing just 40 items feels like a daunting task. Among the many pieces in the Fabergé Museum’s permanent exhibition are dozens or maybe even hundreds of objects tied to stories and anecdotes from my own life. At the same time, I understand that it is vital for our young museum to share its masterpieces with a wider, global audience. For these reasons, in putting together this book I have attempted to place works of objectively high importance in art history alongside those that I cherish most as a collector, those that speak directly to my soul.

There is a third, no less important criterion that I have applied in making my selection. Our museum bears the name of Carl Fabergé, the great Russian jeweller. If his masterpieces — the imperial Easter eggs, first and foremost — were not considered possibly the most celebrated and valuable works of jewellery art in the world, our museum would not exist. Therefore, any book published by the museum is compelled to discuss the best creations of the House of Fabergé, particularly since, through the efforts of contemporary researchers, new information about them continues to come to light.

To the memory of Carl Fabergé, whose 175th birthday we celebrate in May 2021, I dedicate this book.

Vladimir Voronchenko Director, Fabergé Museum

5

THE COCKEREL EGG Gift from Emperor Nicholas II to his mother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, at Easter 1900 St Petersburg, 1900 Fabergé, workmaster Michael Perchin Gold, rose-cut diamonds, pearls, feathers, guilloché enamel Height (with raised lid) 20,3 cm

When set against the bright enamel and lush floral ornaments of the other imperial eggs, this clockwork egg, with its dark purple shell and greenish-gold ornamentation seemingly heavy with the weight of time, appears monumental and even funereal. Scholars posit that the egg, a gift from Nicholas II at the turn of the twentieth century to his mother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, was meant not only as a symbol of the transition into a new era but also as a reminder of those who remained forever in the nineteenth century. Maria Feodorovna suffered two tragic losses in the 1890s: her husband, Emperor Alexander III, succumbed to illness in 1894, and in the summer of 1899, her youngest son, Grand Duke George Alexandrovich, died suddenly in the Caucasus.

Who could have foreseen that the widowed empress would go on to outlive all of her sons (Nicholas and his younger brother Mikhail were executed by the Bolsheviks in 1918), the Russian Empire as a whole and even the first Soviet head of state, who was responsible for their deaths.

The surprise is a miniature mechanical cockerel made of gold and decorated with natural feathers that emerges from the top of the egg and tells the time through its song. Fabergé loved using unusual, non-jewel materials in his works to imbue them with originality and vitality. The Fabergé Museum’s permanent exhibition contains two imperial eggs crafted for Maria Feodorovna with surprises that feature birds decorated with natural feathers: the Cockerel Egg and the Bay Tree Egg. The Dowager Empress was very fond of birds, and a great many feathered pets lived in her various places of residence.

T H E C O C K E R E L E G G ­|

25

THE COCKEREL EGG Gift from Emperor Nicholas II to his mother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, at Easter 1900 St Petersburg, 1900 Fabergé, workmaster Michael Perchin Gold, rose-cut diamonds, pearls, feathers, guilloché enamel Height (with raised lid) 20,3 cm

When set against the bright enamel and lush floral ornaments of the other imperial eggs, this clockwork egg, with its dark purple shell and greenish-gold ornamentation seemingly heavy with the weight of time, appears monumental and even funereal. Scholars posit that the egg, a gift from Nicholas II at the turn of the twentieth century to his mother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, was meant not only as a symbol of the transition into a new era but also as a reminder of those who remained forever in the nineteenth century. Maria Feodorovna suffered two tragic losses in the 1890s: her husband, Emperor Alexander III, succumbed to illness in 1894, and in the summer of 1899, her youngest son, Grand Duke George Alexandrovich, died suddenly in the Caucasus.

Who could have foreseen that the widowed empress would go on to outlive all of her sons (Nicholas and his younger brother Mikhail were executed by the Bolsheviks in 1918), the Russian Empire as a whole and even the first Soviet head of state, who was responsible for their deaths.

The surprise is a miniature mechanical cockerel made of gold and decorated with natural feathers that emerges from the top of the egg and tells the time through its song. Fabergé loved using unusual, non-jewel materials in his works to imbue them with originality and vitality. The Fabergé Museum’s permanent exhibition contains two imperial eggs crafted for Maria Feodorovna with surprises that feature birds decorated with natural feathers: the Cockerel Egg and the Bay Tree Egg. The Dowager Empress was very fond of birds, and a great many feathered pets lived in her various places of residence.

T H E C O C K E R E L E G G ­|

25

THE DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH EGG St Petersburg, 1902 Fabergé, workmaster Michael Perchin Gold, silver, rose-cut diamonds, pearls, guilloché enamel Height 23,5 cm

At the turn of the twentieth century Fabergé received his first American clients. This had to do with a general trend at that time: American millionaires were travelling to Europe with greater frequency to invest and spend their money. They bought land, palaces, art and, no less importantly, kinship with distinguished relatives. In regard to the latter, they set their sights above all on the United Kingdom, where a great many aristocratic families had fallen on hard times. The export of rich wives from the New World to the Old became so popular that special agencies were set up to facilitate such marriages. One of the most famous examples of such unions was of Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough (and first cousin of Winston Churchill), to the 18-year-old Consuelo Vanderbilt, a member of one of the wealthiest families in the United States. Though the bride and groom were roughly the same age, Consuelo married against her will, under pressure from her mother. The mutual benefit this union conferred to the two families was so obvious that many in the United States called it disgraceful. ‘Once we made it our boast that this nation was not founded upon any class distinction’, wrote the writer and political activist Mary Elizabeth Lease. ‘But now we are… selling our children to titled debauchees’.

Consuelo gave her husband a dowry of several million dollars and two sons. With her good looks, she became one of the most prominent beauties in London society. However, her marriage to the duke remained an unhappy one.

In 1902 Consuelo and her husband visited Russia, where the duchess attended a ball at the Winter Palace and was received by Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna in Anichkov Palace. It is likely that there she saw the empress’s Blue Serpent Clock Egg, a gift from her son Nicholas II on Easter, 1895. Some time later, the House of Fabergé received an order for a similar creation for the eminent traveller.

T H E D U C H E S S O F M A R L B O R O U G H E G G ­|

35

THE DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH EGG St Petersburg, 1902 Fabergé, workmaster Michael Perchin Gold, silver, rose-cut diamonds, pearls, guilloché enamel Height 23,5 cm

At the turn of the twentieth century Fabergé received his first American clients. This had to do with a general trend at that time: American millionaires were travelling to Europe with greater frequency to invest and spend their money. They bought land, palaces, art and, no less importantly, kinship with distinguished relatives. In regard to the latter, they set their sights above all on the United Kingdom, where a great many aristocratic families had fallen on hard times. The export of rich wives from the New World to the Old became so popular that special agencies were set up to facilitate such marriages. One of the most famous examples of such unions was of Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough (and first cousin of Winston Churchill), to the 18-year-old Consuelo Vanderbilt, a member of one of the wealthiest families in the United States. Though the bride and groom were roughly the same age, Consuelo married against her will, under pressure from her mother. The mutual benefit this union conferred to the two families was so obvious that many in the United States called it disgraceful. ‘Once we made it our boast that this nation was not founded upon any class distinction’, wrote the writer and political activist Mary Elizabeth Lease. ‘But now we are… selling our children to titled debauchees’.

Consuelo gave her husband a dowry of several million dollars and two sons. With her good looks, she became one of the most prominent beauties in London society. However, her marriage to the duke remained an unhappy one.

In 1902 Consuelo and her husband visited Russia, where the duchess attended a ball at the Winter Palace and was received by Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna in Anichkov Palace. It is likely that there she saw the empress’s Blue Serpent Clock Egg, a gift from her son Nicholas II on Easter, 1895. Some time later, the House of Fabergé received an order for a similar creation for the eminent traveller.

T H E D U C H E S S O F M A R L B O R O U G H E G G ­|

35

BASKET OF LILIES OF THE VALLEY St Petersburg, 1895–1898 Fabergé Gold, pearls, nephrite Height 7,7 cm

Floral compositions made from gold, nephrite, rock crystal and diamonds and decorated with enamel form another unique series of objets de fantaisie that are immediately identifiable as Fabergé and which were largely responsible for their creator’s international fame. They were shown alongside the best Fabergé works at the most important exhibitions of the early twentieth century: the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1900 and a charity exhibition under the patronage of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna in 1902, held in the St Petersburg mansion of Baron von Dervis. The Fabergé flowers had won the hearts of both Russian empresses, as well as of other influential ladies of the House of Romanov.

Of all the floral compositions owned by Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, we must mention the basket of lilies of the valley that was given to her by a delegation of Siberian industrialists at the All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod. Fabergé made it from gold and platinum that imitated a woven basket, moss and stalks, while the leaves were carved out of nephrite with pearls and diamonds forming the flowers. It’s striking that Carl Fabergé, so modest and delicate in his handling of his imperial clients, declared in two separate interviews that the basket of lilies of the valley was the empress’s favourite piece, and that it always featured prominently on her writing desk.

The Fabergé Museum holds an analogous basket of lilies of the valley, which belonged to Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, the granddaughter of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich and Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna. Born in 1906 in Greece and married to Prince George of England, Marina was a beautiful socialite and admirer of Russian art, and of Fabergé’s works in particular.

B A S K E T O F L I L I E S O F T H E V A L L E Y ­|

53

BASKET OF LILIES OF THE VALLEY St Petersburg, 1895–1898 Fabergé Gold, pearls, nephrite Height 7,7 cm

Floral compositions made from gold, nephrite, rock crystal and diamonds and decorated with enamel form another unique series of objets de fantaisie that are immediately identifiable as Fabergé and which were largely responsible for their creator’s international fame. They were shown alongside the best Fabergé works at the most important exhibitions of the early twentieth century: the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1900 and a charity exhibition under the patronage of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna in 1902, held in the St Petersburg mansion of Baron von Dervis. The Fabergé flowers had won the hearts of both Russian empresses, as well as of other influential ladies of the House of Romanov.

Of all the floral compositions owned by Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, we must mention the basket of lilies of the valley that was given to her by a delegation of Siberian industrialists at the All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod. Fabergé made it from gold and platinum that imitated a woven basket, moss and stalks, while the leaves were carved out of nephrite with pearls and diamonds forming the flowers. It’s striking that Carl Fabergé, so modest and delicate in his handling of his imperial clients, declared in two separate interviews that the basket of lilies of the valley was the empress’s favourite piece, and that it always featured prominently on her writing desk.

The Fabergé Museum holds an analogous basket of lilies of the valley, which belonged to Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, the granddaughter of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich and Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna. Born in 1906 in Greece and married to Prince George of England, Marina was a beautiful socialite and admirer of Russian art, and of Fabergé’s works in particular.

B A S K E T O F L I L I E S O F T H E V A L L E Y ­|

53

BILLINGS KOVSH Given by the Imperial Moscow Society of Horse Trotting to C.K.G. Billings Moscow, 1909 Fabergé, workmaster Feodor Rückert Silver-gilt, filigree enamel Height 40,5 cm

The tradition of giving expensive gifts extended far beyond the close circle of the imperial family and Court. Presents personal and official were commissioned from Fabergé and other jewellers for a plethora of occasions. As a result, the objects displayed in showcases in our museum do not merely tell us about the styles and techniques used in making jewellery. They also chronicle the events and key players of their time, which we rightly call the Fabergé era: after all, it is his name which today unites them and brings them all to life.

One of those key players was the American industrialist and horse enthusiast C.K.G. Billings (1861–1937). He spent his youth in Chicago working in a gas company owned by his father. By the age of 40, he had become its largest shareholder and stepped away from his active duties to pursue his true passion: horses. Moving to New York, he created there ‘the most luxurious and complete stable ever built’, as described by the New York Times. To celebrate its completion, he arranged a special dinner in the chic restaurant Sherry’s on Fifth Avenue. He invited about 40 guests to dine with him… on horseback. The freight elevator was used to bring the horses up to the grand ballroom on the fourth floor.

Guests sat on saddles with attached silver trays and drank champagne from bottles in their saddlebags through rubber tubes. The floor was covered with a thick layer of turf, and a country landscape was painted on the walls. That dinner, which cost $50,000, became one of the symbols of the American Gilded Age. In 1909, Billings travelled around Europe and Russia to demonstrate his trotting horses, which included Lou Dillon, the ‘Trotting Queen’.

Exhibition races featuring Billings’s horses were held in the Moscow Hippodrome on 8 July 1909 and were an enormous success with the local viewing public. To rapturous applause from the assembled spectators, Pavel Okonishnikov, vice president of the Imperial Moscow Society

BILLINGS KOVSH

67

BILLINGS KOVSH Given by the Imperial Moscow Society of Horse Trotting to C.K.G. Billings Moscow, 1909 Fabergé, workmaster Feodor Rückert Silver-gilt, filigree enamel Height 40,5 cm

The tradition of giving expensive gifts extended far beyond the close circle of the imperial family and Court. Presents personal and official were commissioned from Fabergé and other jewellers for a plethora of occasions. As a result, the objects displayed in showcases in our museum do not merely tell us about the styles and techniques used in making jewellery. They also chronicle the events and key players of their time, which we rightly call the Fabergé era: after all, it is his name which today unites them and brings them all to life.

One of those key players was the American industrialist and horse enthusiast C.K.G. Billings (1861–1937). He spent his youth in Chicago working in a gas company owned by his father. By the age of 40, he had become its largest shareholder and stepped away from his active duties to pursue his true passion: horses. Moving to New York, he created there ‘the most luxurious and complete stable ever built’, as described by the New York Times. To celebrate its completion, he arranged a special dinner in the chic restaurant Sherry’s on Fifth Avenue. He invited about 40 guests to dine with him… on horseback. The freight elevator was used to bring the horses up to the grand ballroom on the fourth floor.

Guests sat on saddles with attached silver trays and drank champagne from bottles in their saddlebags through rubber tubes. The floor was covered with a thick layer of turf, and a country landscape was painted on the walls. That dinner, which cost $50,000, became one of the symbols of the American Gilded Age. In 1909, Billings travelled around Europe and Russia to demonstrate his trotting horses, which included Lou Dillon, the ‘Trotting Queen’.

Exhibition races featuring Billings’s horses were held in the Moscow Hippodrome on 8 July 1909 and were an enormous success with the local viewing public. To rapturous applause from the assembled spectators, Pavel Okonishnikov, vice president of the Imperial Moscow Society

BILLINGS KOVSH

67

PRESENTATION KOVSH Given to Prince Lev Golitsyn for promoting domestic wine production St Petersburg, 1898 Fabergé, workmaster Julius Rappoport Silver, guilloché enamel 39 × 60 × 31,7 cm

A fabulous example of an imperial gift given for extraordinary service to Russia is the kovsh of Prince Lev Golitsyn, a Russian winemaker who founded a famous winery on the estate of his Novy Svet manor in Crimea, and who from 1891 to 1898 oversaw all the vineyards and wineries owned by the tsar’s family in the Domains Office.

A man of exceptional talents, recipient of an illustrious education at the Sorbonne and Moscow University, specialist in Roman law and amateur archaeologist, Golitsyn eventually decided to focus all his time and energy on winemaking. Thanks to his efforts, Russia saw the appearance of such famous wineries as Abrau-Durso, Massandra and Novy Svet, and Russian wine began to compete with French exports for the first time. The prince’s crowning achievement was when his Crimean Paradisio wine won the Grand Prix at the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris, when even the extremely experienced jury could not tell whether the wine they were drinking was Russian or French!

This was preceded by Golitsyn’s roaring success at the All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition of 1896 in Nizhny Novgorod. It is worth noting that this exhibition, the opening of which immediately followed the coronation of Nicholas II, was an event of unprecedented scale for Russia. Suffice it to say that it had twice the number of exhibits as the All-Russian Exhibition of 1882 in Moscow and occupied three times the area.

Lev Golitsyn’s participation in this grandiose event was striking.

For the demonstration and tasting of his wines, the prince assembled a separate pavilion immediately adjacent to the Imperial Pavilion. The building, featuring a brick archway, decorated with the prince’s name and coat of arms and seemingly flowing on either side into an artificial mountainside, was of particular interest to the public. The pavilion’s interior was decorated as a mythological grotto or temple of Bacchus.

P R E S E N T A T I O N K O V S H ­|

73

PRESENTATION KOVSH Given to Prince Lev Golitsyn for promoting domestic wine production St Petersburg, 1898 Fabergé, workmaster Julius Rappoport Silver, guilloché enamel 39 × 60 × 31,7 cm

A fabulous example of an imperial gift given for extraordinary service to Russia is the kovsh of Prince Lev Golitsyn, a Russian winemaker who founded a famous winery on the estate of his Novy Svet manor in Crimea, and who from 1891 to 1898 oversaw all the vineyards and wineries owned by the tsar’s family in the Domains Office.

A man of exceptional talents, recipient of an illustrious education at the Sorbonne and Moscow University, specialist in Roman law and amateur archaeologist, Golitsyn eventually decided to focus all his time and energy on winemaking. Thanks to his efforts, Russia saw the appearance of such famous wineries as Abrau-Durso, Massandra and Novy Svet, and Russian wine began to compete with French exports for the first time. The prince’s crowning achievement was when his Crimean Paradisio wine won the Grand Prix at the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris, when even the extremely experienced jury could not tell whether the wine they were drinking was Russian or French!

This was preceded by Golitsyn’s roaring success at the All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition of 1896 in Nizhny Novgorod. It is worth noting that this exhibition, the opening of which immediately followed the coronation of Nicholas II, was an event of unprecedented scale for Russia. Suffice it to say that it had twice the number of exhibits as the All-Russian Exhibition of 1882 in Moscow and occupied three times the area.

Lev Golitsyn’s participation in this grandiose event was striking.

For the demonstration and tasting of his wines, the prince assembled a separate pavilion immediately adjacent to the Imperial Pavilion. The building, featuring a brick archway, decorated with the prince’s name and coat of arms and seemingly flowing on either side into an artificial mountainside, was of particular interest to the public. The pavilion’s interior was decorated as a mythological grotto or temple of Bacchus.

P R E S E N T A T I O N K O V S H ­|

73

small tea and coffee set in the Fabergé Museum’s permanent exhibition.

Each individual article in it is covered in opaque olive enamel which wonderfully complements the superimposed silver ornament — smooth, round and heavy. The ornament’s smooth shades and shapes contrast beautifully with the silhouettes of the objects, with their clearly defined edges and the sharp lines of their handles, spouts and tips. In essence, the set is a free interpretation of Russian antiquity and folk art by an Art Nouveau artist at the turn of the twentieth century.

T E A A N D C O F F E E S E T ­|

87

small tea and coffee set in the Fabergé Museum’s permanent exhibition.

Each individual article in it is covered in opaque olive enamel which wonderfully complements the superimposed silver ornament — smooth, round and heavy. The ornament’s smooth shades and shapes contrast beautifully with the silhouettes of the objects, with their clearly defined edges and the sharp lines of their handles, spouts and tips. In essence, the set is a free interpretation of Russian antiquity and folk art by an Art Nouveau artist at the turn of the twentieth century.

T E A A N D C O F F E E S E T ­|

87

that particular image of Christ was chosen for the central panel. As for the centrepiece, the icon of Our Lady of Kazan was particularly revered in the Russian Orthodox Church: its miraculous power was credited with Russia’s victory over the Polish-Lithuanian army and the subsequent end of the Time of Troubles and ascension of the Romanovs to the throne. A reproduction of the icon is in Kazan Cathedral in St Petersburg; immediately after the wedding ceremony, the imperial couple visited it to pay homage to the holy relic.

The wedding day of Nicholas, the newly declared tsar, and his bride from Hesse-Darmstadt, was chosen in such a manner as to circumvent the official period of mourning Emperor Alexander III, who had passed away three weeks earlier: November 14 was the birthday of his widow, Maria Feodorovna, and this alone could serve as an excuse for the wedding to go forward. There were dissenting voices within the imperial family regarding whether it was appropriate to have the wedding so soon after the funeral. Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, a friend of Nicholas since they were children, wrote in his memoirs: ‘Their honeymoon was spent amid an atmosphere of funeral processions and people paying their respects. Not even the most deliberate dramatisation could have imagined a more fitting harbinger for the historic tragedy of the last Russian Tsar’.

The story of how this icon was taken out of Russia can be gathered from the correspondence of Victor Hammer, brother of the famous Armand Hammer, who began lucrative business dealings in the Soviet Union in the early 1920s. Victor writes, ‘On one occasion in 1926, I was shown a group of icons and mementos from the personal quarters of the Royal couple in the Alexandra Palace. There was an outstanding masterpiece (Triptych) in silver gilt decorated with enamel and set with cabochon rubies, emeralds, sapphires and many other precious stones. On the back the Alexandra crest was stamped’.

F O L D I N G A L T A R O U R L A D Y O F K A Z A N , S T N I C H O L A S , S T A L E X A N D R A ­|

91

that particular image of Christ was chosen for the central panel. As for the centrepiece, the icon of Our Lady of Kazan was particularly revered in the Russian Orthodox Church: its miraculous power was credited with Russia’s victory over the Polish-Lithuanian army and the subsequent end of the Time of Troubles and ascension of the Romanovs to the throne. A reproduction of the icon is in Kazan Cathedral in St Petersburg; immediately after the wedding ceremony, the imperial couple visited it to pay homage to the holy relic.

The wedding day of Nicholas, the newly declared tsar, and his bride from Hesse-Darmstadt, was chosen in such a manner as to circumvent the official period of mourning Emperor Alexander III, who had passed away three weeks earlier: November 14 was the birthday of his widow, Maria Feodorovna, and this alone could serve as an excuse for the wedding to go forward. There were dissenting voices within the imperial family regarding whether it was appropriate to have the wedding so soon after the funeral. Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, a friend of Nicholas since they were children, wrote in his memoirs: ‘Their honeymoon was spent amid an atmosphere of funeral processions and people paying their respects. Not even the most deliberate dramatisation could have imagined a more fitting harbinger for the historic tragedy of the last Russian Tsar’.

The story of how this icon was taken out of Russia can be gathered from the correspondence of Victor Hammer, brother of the famous Armand Hammer, who began lucrative business dealings in the Soviet Union in the early 1920s. Victor writes, ‘On one occasion in 1926, I was shown a group of icons and mementos from the personal quarters of the Royal couple in the Alexandra Palace. There was an outstanding masterpiece (Triptych) in silver gilt decorated with enamel and set with cabochon rubies, emeralds, sapphires and many other precious stones. On the back the Alexandra crest was stamped’.

F O L D I N G A L T A R O U R L A D Y O F K A Z A N , S T N I C H O L A S , S T A L E X A N D R A ­|

91

This edition © Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers Ltd, 2021 Text and photography © Fabergé Museum Photography © Andrey Terebenin Text written by Vladimir Voronchenko First published in 2021 by Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers Ltd Registered address: 27 Old Gloucester Street London WC1N 3AX UK www.scalapublishers.com In association with Fabergé Museum 21 Fontanka River Embankment St Petersburg 191023 Russia www.fabergemuseum.ru

ISBN: 978-1-78551-222-3 Project Coordinators — Mikhail Ovchinnikov, Olga Borodyanskaya Edited by Neil Titman Designed by ABCdesign Translated by Ricardo Marin-Vidal Printed in PNB Print 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of Fabergé Museum and Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers Ltd. Every effort has been made to acknowledge correct copyright of images where applicable. Any errors or omissions are unintentional and should be notified to the Publisher, who will arrange for corrections to appear i n any reprints.

Director’s Choice™ is a registered trademark of Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers Ltd.

Front cover: THE RENAISSANCE EGG Gift from Emperor Alexander III to his wife, Empress Maria Feodorovna, at Easter 1894 St Petersburg, 1894 Fabergé, workmaster Michael Perchin Gold, rose-cut diamonds, rubies, agate, guilloché enamel, champlevé enamel, painted enamel p. 2–3 Shuvalov palace The Grand Staircase Designed by Nikolay Yefimov, 1840s p. 94–95 Shuvalov palace The Gold Room Designed by Bernar de Simone, 1840s