Fabergé Blue Enamel Oval Picture Frame
View Similar Items
Fabergé Blue Enamel Oval Picture Frame
About the Item
- Creator:Karl Fabergé (Maker)
- Dimensions:Height: 2.5 in (6.35 cm)Width: 1.75 in (4.45 cm)Depth: 1.75 in (4.45 cm)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:20th Century
- Condition:
- Seller Location:Richmond, VA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU2398310212601
Karl Fabergé
Master goldsmith Gustav Fabergé, a descendant of Huguenot emigrées, founded the House of Fabergé in St. Petersburg in 1842. While the firm is best known for creating the lavishly ornate and intricately devised Imperial Easter eggs given by the last czars to their families as annual holiday gifts, it was the most prestigious Russian luxury goods maker of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Fabergé did a brisk trade among the lesser nobility and the merchant class, but it flourished under the guidance of Gustav’s eldest son Peter Carl Fabergé — known also as Karl Gustavovich Fabergé — who took over in 1872.
Serving the aristocracy and the well-to-do through stores in St. Petersburg, Moscow and as far afield as London, Fabergé crafted a wide range of brooches and other jewelry, clock cases, silver and myriad objets de vertu that included picture frames, cigarette cases, cufflinks and carved hardstone floral and animal figurines. Following the revolution, the firm was closed by the Soviet state in 1918.
Cosmopolitan, widely-traveled and himself a master goldsmith — he was sent on a Grand Tour in the 1860s — the younger Fabergé drew early design inspiration when he volunteered to catalogue and restore pieces in the imperial jewelry collection in the Hermitage.
Fabergé pieces based on historical jewelry from the Hermitage caught the attention of Czar Alexander III at a Moscow exhibition in 1882, and three years later he commissioned the first Imperial Easter egg as a gift for the czarina. Czar Nicholas II continued the tradition, presenting two eggs each Easter — one for his wife and one for his mother.
(Relatively simple in design compared to the complex cloisonné-adorned eggs that followed, the first Fabergé egg was a white-enameled ovoid containing a gold “yolk” that held a gold hen, which in turn contained a replica of the imperial crown from which hung an egg-shaped ruby pendant.)
As the appointed goldsmith to the royal court, the House of Fabergé became the darling of Russian aristocrats as well as wealthy patrons across Europe. Many and varied objets — hundreds of thousands by one count — were made to meet their demand. The firm employed some 500 craftsmen and designers when it was shuttered.
After the Russian Revolution, the Fabergé name and trademark endured a checkered passage through the 20th century.
Family members left their homeland in 1918 and set up a new business in Paris that was mainly concerned with repairing and restoring earlier-made wares. The name was adopted by an American fragrance and beauty products maker in the late 1930s, and later authorized by the family in a 1951 agreement. The trademark has been subsequently sold several times, and attached to numerous products including jewelry.
Fabergé pieces are richly redolent of a romantic past, and a source of thorough delight — for connoisseurs, true Fabergé refers to items made in the firm’s brief, golden decades from 1885 to 1917.
Collectors are advised to make a study of Fabergé works in museum collections such as the Victoria & Albert and the Royal Collection in London to gain an understanding of the quality of genuine goods made by the original firm, and then to purchase only from reputable and reliable dealers, such those at 1stDibs.
Find Karl Fabergé objects and vintage jewelry on 1stDibs.
- Italian Blue Enamel and Gold Brass Picture FrameLocated in New York, NYA beautiful Italian blue enamel and brass picture frame, Modern/Minimalist style, circa late-20th century, Italy. This blue enamel frame has a modern or minimalist design and a rich backing in a high-gloss walnut wood. A well-made frame, front and back. A great piece for a desk, vanity, nightstand area, etc. Very good condition as shown in images. Dimensions include: Overall 4.5" square Opening (image area) 3.38" square. Other items shown in images also available, search 1stDibs ref. #s: Italian marble decorative object, ref. #: LU1314223676072 Blue and gold Italian Murano bird, search ref. #: LU1314223553852 (SOLD) Red coral letter opener, search ref. #: LU1314223676062 (SOLD) Mother-of-Pearl dish...Category
Late 20th Century Italian Minimalist Picture Frames
MaterialsBrass, Enamel
- Opulent Jay Strongwater Jeweled Enamel Wedding Keepsake Picture FrameBy Jay StrongwaterLocated in Tustin, CAGorgeous handmade and hand painted cast metal decorative picture frame from the Jay Strongwater "Duchess" collection features exquisitely subtle, glossy pearl enamel work coloration,...Category
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Picture Frames
MaterialsMetal, Enamel
- Wonderful French Large Oval Bronze Ormolu Garland Embossed Picture FrameLocated in Roslyn, NYA wonderful French large oval bronze ormolu garland embossed picture frame with easel back 18" H x 14" W.Category
20th Century French Belle Époque Picture Frames
MaterialsBronze
- Henrik Wigström Russia Imperial 1915 Red Enamel Picture Frame In Gilded SterlingBy Henrik Wigström 1Located in Miami, FLPresentation picture frame from the imperial Russia. Beautiful neo classic picture desk frame, created in Moscow Russia, back in the 1910's. It was carefully crafted in the Russia...Category
Vintage 1910s Russian Neoclassical Picture Frames
MaterialsGold, Silver, Enamel