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Born of a Huguenot family who had to leave France for Russia at the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, Carl Faberge (1847-1920) became the goldsmith and the jeweler of the Romanov family. His fame and his international reputation are probably related to the luxury and to the refinement of his precious creations.
In his salons of Moscow and of Saint Petersburg hundreds of talented goldsmiths, lapidaries and sculptors were making works that always dazzled which attracted the customers of royalty and the international elite.
Between 1870 and 1917, the Fabergé workshops produced about 200,000 pieces. Many of these creations have been lost or destroyed by the Bolsheviks after the Revolu- tion of 1917 who have also melted silverware to transform it into silver bullion.
The famous Faberge eggs with their surprise make the celebrity of the home. There are still 43 eggs of the Romanov collection to date.
This exhibition features four of the five imperial eggs of the «Virginia Museum of Fine Arts» and more than 200 original works:
Gold jewelry inlaid with precious stones, cigarette cases, snuff boxes, enameled frames, knobs canes, compacts, door handles, candy boxes, bowls, statuettes of animals in hard stones, small eggs in charms jewels ... often unique pieces.
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