04 September 2024 – 12 January 2025

Vladimir K. Arseniev Museum of Far East History, Vladivostok City

Organised by:

The Moscow Kremlin Museums, Vladimir K. Arseniev Museum of Far East History

Participants:

The Moscow Kremlin Museums

The exhibition "The Epoch of Fabergé. The Golden Age of Russian Jewellery Art" is the sixth in a series of brilliant exhibition projects of the Moscow Kremlin Museums at the Vladimir K. Arseniev Museum of Far East History, and is undoubtedly the most grandiose. The exposition includes three hundred items, including masterpieces of the famous Russian Firm of Carl Fabergé and works of his contemporaries – suppliers to the Supreme Court I. Khlebnikov, P. Ovchinnikov, Grachev brothers, F. Köchli, as well as other companies, factories, studios and artels. The central exhibits are three Easter eggs created at the request of Emperor Nicholas II by Henrik Wigström, the chief jeweller of the Carl Fabergé Firm. Nicholas II presented them to his wife, Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna, at Easter in 1908, 1913 and 1916. Symbols of the unsurpassed craftsmanship and creativity of  artists and jewellers of the renowned Tsarist company, the Imperial Easter eggs reflected the events of the turbulent Russian history of the early 20th century, namely the 300th Anniversary of the Romanov dynasty and the harsh days of the First World War. The egg with a model of the Alexander Palace containing miniature watercolour portraits of Nicholas II's children is dedicated to the private family life of the royal couple in Tsarskoe Selo.

In previous years, the Museum of Far East History has already displayed two imperial gifts: "Trans-Siberian Express" Easter egg at the exhibition "Map of Russia. Milestones in History" and the "Memory of Azov" egg at the exhibition "Conquerors of the Seas and Gifts of the Oceans. Masterpieces from the Collection of the Moscow Kremlin Museums". They are connected with glorious events in the history of Primorsky Krai and Vladivostok – the arrival of the cruiser "Memory of Azov" with Tsesarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich on board and the foundation of the Great Siberian Railway. At present, the public can discover three exceptional Easter eggs – the highlights of the royal jeweller.

In addition to Easter eggs, there are exclusive and custom-made products on display, i.e. gifts for the most August persons from the guards, seals with the Romanov coats of arms, stone-carved items with royal monograms from the Ekaterinburg Imperial Lapidary Manufactory, and precious church utensils donated to the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent, whose abbess was Grand Princess Elizaveta Fyodorovna. Besides, there are also products of various types and genres for a wider range of buyers: jewellery, accessories, precious haberdashery, silverware, fantasy works of art, stone sculpture. These jewels are made using complex and varied techniques such as figurative art casting, ornamental chasing, niello in the form of architectural engraving, and various types of enamel: painted, cloisonné, champlevé, guilloché and plique-á-jour – transparent as a stained glass window.

The exhibition features coronation items, including the uniform of Emperor Alexander III, who introduced the Easter theme into Carl Fabergé’s work when he commissioned the first Easter gift for his august wife in 1885. It was during the reign of Alexander III that the jeweller received the title of supplier to the court of His Imperial Majesty and was entrusted with the most important orders. The medal awarded to Fabergé at the Paris World Fair in 1900 is evidence of his worldwide fame.

Visitors can also admire samples of costumes from the historicism and art nouveau periods, which form a harmonious chord with jewellery – diamond decorations, gold lorgnettes and handbags, jewellery designs by the C. Fabergé Firm. The works of Soviet and contemporary Russian masters are also on display – jewellery and their sketches, sculptures in stone, silver utensils, and medals. Their example shows that the great traditions of Russian gold-work have not been interrupted – they continue to develop.