How Faberge gained his fame

The firm had traditionally produced jewellery but Carl Fabergé decided to concentrate on producing objets d'art which in commercial terms seems a very odd decision to have made. His gamble paid off, however, and it was not long before the house of Fabergé was being patronized by the Tsars of Russia, a situation which ensured it world supremacy until its confiscation in 1918 after the Bolshevik revolution. Fabergé first exhibited at the Pan-Russian Exhibition in Moscow in 1898 where he carried off the top award. Other accolades 100 Nuremh
East at Stockholm but it was not until
1900 and the Exposition internationale universelle (World Pair) in Paris that Fabergé's reputation reached its pin-nacle. French goldsmiths, traditionally confident of their supremacy, marvelled at the objects he exhibited and he was duly awarded the Légion d'honneur These
exhibitions
Fabergé an international
gained reputation
and the patronage of the Royalty and
anstocracy or burope.
India and the
Orient.
By 1898 Fabergé employed more than 700 craftsmen and had branches in St.
Petersburg, Moscow, Kiev, Odessa and London but despite this vast expansion he never lost control and every piece which left the workshops had his highly individual mark. The range of objects produced was amazing: ikons, boxes, trays,
fans, clocks - anything which could be jewelled was tackled.
His style, like most other craftsmen of the 19th century, was essentially eclec-tic. The influence can be seen of Louis XIV, Louis XV, and Louis XVI (presumably resulting from his Paris apprenticeship)
well as that of Renaissance . have been able to use all these styles and combine or interpret them until they became his own - all Fabergé.
His technical virtuosity is unparal-leled: he used all the traditional techniques and stretched them further than ever before; he used modern machinery without ever becoming a slave to it.