SEVEN QUESTIONS FOR GÉZA VON HABSBURG

Curatorial Director Fabergé Company, London Fabulous Fabergé, Jeweller to the Czars

Why does there continue to be such tremendous interest in collecting Fabergé?
One of the leading specialists on the Russian master, Géza von Habsburg, curatorial director of the Fabergé company in London and author of a number of books on him and his work, including the catalogue of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, explains the fascination and enthusiasm still surrounding Fabergé.

Why are people still so fascinated by Fabergé, even today? Is it due only to the aura around the famous Easter eggs?
The legendary Easter Eggs do indeed account for much of Fabergé’s fame. However, few people know about the more than 200,000 other objects created by the firm, many of them one of a kind. Fabergé was the leading jeweller in Russia in the early twentieth century, yet due to the fact that the Bolsheviks broke up all the jewellery they could lay hands on after 1917, virtually nothing has survived. The same applies to his silver: all the works of Fabergé’s era were melted down to make silver ingots or rubles. What have survived in fairly large numbers are generally objets d’art of less intrinsic value.
Géza von Habsburg Curatorial director Fabergé company in London Photo Travis Fullerton © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

What really distinguished Carl Fabergé from other jewellers of his time? Was it his intelligence, his business acumen, his immense creativity or the virtuosity of his craftsmen?
His works are totally original, one-of-a-kind, beautifully designed and of superlative craftsmanship. They were the best-suited creations for their era – instantly recognizable among cognoscenti, ideal gifts for all occasions and relatively inexpensive. Add to that the “ambassadorial” role of the imperial family, who spread the fame of Fabergé internationally; the exhibitions held abroad; the prizes won; the role of the Edwardian society in London, where Alexandra, the wife of King Edward VII was the sister of Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna and where Fabergé had a shop; the fact that he sent teams of salesmen throughout Europe, the Near and Far East. Fabergé even pioneered by sending his Russian clientele priced and illustrated pamphlets.

How would you characterize the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts’ collection, apart from being the most important in North America?
The collection was formed by Lillian Thomas Pratt, a woman of great taste and of very specific interests. Anything directly connected with the Russian imperial family fascinated her. Her five Imperial Easter eggs are among Fabergé’s choicest works of art of their kind. Hence also the unusually large number of frames with photographs of members of the imperial family. Her collection is also uniquely rich in parasol and cane handles, as well as miniature Easter eggs. After the loss of the Forbes Family Collection with its nine Imperial eggs and over 200 other treasures to a Russian oligarch in 2004, we in the United States are lucky to still have such a wealth of objects by the great Russian craftsman.

Most of the major twentieth-century Fabergé collectors were American. How do you explain their particular interest in Fabergé?
“Many”, but not “most”. England too had a number of lesser known important collectors. The Royal family continued to acquire Fabergé after his death in 1920. King Farouk of Egypt was also an addicted collector. However, America did indeed have a particular soft spot for Fabergé. The ladies avidly collecting in the 1930s and 1940s all felt in some way akin to the czar’s tragically murdered family, particularly to the poor haemophiliac cesarevich and his four beautiful sisters. The imagined lifestyle of the Russian court was imitated in America, reflected in splendid Louis XVI interiors. Collecting Fabergé became and still is an urge among High Society ladies. Just how popular Fabergé has remained in the USA was shown by my exhibition Faberge in America, which attracted 400,000 visitors to the Metropolitan Museum in New York in 1996 and over one million nationwide.

The keen interest for Fabergé’s works during the twentieth century resulted in a thriving market for « Fauxbergés » to use your expression. Is it possible today to easily distinguish such fakes from genuine pieces?
My denomination “Fauxberge” has indeed become “monnaie courante”. Many tens of thousands of forgeries circulate internationally. They are not easily discernible to the layman, although to the handful of specialists they are generally readily recognizable. In my case, over forty years of handling thousands of both genuine and forged articles have given me a kind of “sixth sense” or “gut feeling”. Photographs are usually sufficient for us to detect the more common fakes, they even visually impact one at a distance. However, even among experts, there can be differences of opinion. With prices rising into the tens of millions, forgers now can take all the time necessary to produce virtually perfect creations. Some of them have become really difficult to spot. Like every specialist, even I have to admit to having been fooled.

Do we have a general idea of the total number of objects produced by Fabergé?
Even if no object is known from the hands of Fabergé himself, he is said to have had over 500 highly selected craftsmen working for him in Saint Petersburg and Moscow. Almost every piece by Fabergé has a secret scratched inventory number. For her part, Fabergé’s great-great-grand daughter believes that the firm produced over 300,000 creations.

You are the best expert on Fabergé. Has what is known about him and his firm changed a great deal since you began your study of the field?
“One of”, rather than “the best”. The first books on Fabergé were written either by authors personally acquainted with the Russian Master, or with one of his sons. Many facts published then have withstood the test of time, but the opening of the Russian archives due to Perestroika has produced a wealth of new material. Major unknown works of art by Fabergé surface regularly. One of the missing eight Imperial eggs was recently found in a yard sale, acquired for under $10,000 and now valued at $20 million.
Comments compiled by Jeanne Faton Excerpt from Fabulous Fabergé, Jeweller to the Czars, L’Objet d’Art Special Issue, 2014 Published under the Direction of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

To learn more:
Fabergé Revealed at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Edited by Dr. Géza von Habsburg, this publication takes a detailed look at the VMFA’s very exhaustive collection. In addition to entries on Fabergé’s works, “Fauxbergés” and other contemporary Russian decorative art objects, it contains essays by experts that provide new information on the jeweller, his techniques and his creations. Co-published by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and Skira Rizzoli Publications, New York, in English. 422 pages. Some 600 photographs.