In the year of the great Russian jeweler C. Faberge death centenary, Moscow Kremlin museum is opening the exhibition dedicated to one of the major areas of his activity –the enamel business. The items with various kinds of multicolored enamels, demonstrated at the exhibition, were created mostly at his Moscow factory, which was well known at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries for its products in the so-called peculiar Russian style. The exposition presents about five hundred works of enamel art, decorated with filigree enamel, guilloche, plique-a-jour, cloisonné and painted enamels. Some items are ornamented with miniature copies of the paintings by Russian artists, made in the most complicated technique of painting on enamel. Forty-five unique items created in the workshops of C. Fabergé, F. Rückert, P. Ovchinnikov, E. Cheryatov, M. Adler, A. Lyubavin, O. Kurlyukov, A. Kuzmichev, I. Khlebnikov, G. Klingert and F. Lorie were provided by the museum Collection.

Enamel products of the Faberge factory in Moscow were valued by the society for their singularity and masterful hand-made artisanship. Products with the embossed patterns and figurative motifs on sole-coloured enamel matt surfaces were especially popular. Such were grace cups on blue, velvety tints of which the chased figures of Sirins and Firebirds stood out clearly. The enamels matt surfaces evoked associations with velvet. This led to the emergence of unique, having no parallel in the history of jewelry works products - ladles, caskets, cups, decorated with pearl “embroidery” on monochrome enamel surface. The artisans reproduced the traditional technique of “pearly embroidery”. Decorative elements - curls, stars, traditional creeper stems – have contour graphic character, ornamental and graphic motifs are laid out with the smallest pearl grains. The artists and artisans of the Fabergé firm, who were keenly following the changing fashion, were inspired by the crossover interest in the ancient Russian and folk headwear, velvet and brocade vestments, richly decorated with beaded pearls.

Carl Fabergé workshops in Saint Petersburg produced works in the style of National Romantics as well. Art items decorated with the use the old Russian motifs and traditional enamel techniques are presented even among the imperial Easter eggs created by Faberge firm.

Museums and collectors are gleaning bit by bit the unique legacy of this enamel artisan, as well as the works of his contemporaries - wonderful silversmiths and enamellists of the 19th - early 20th centuries. Specialists scrutinize their art works and historical documents of the time. The first Russian exhibition of the masterpieces of Russian enamel art in the styles of Historicism and Art Nouveau is the culmination of this assiduous work.

Unique works of Carl Faberge are presented in the museum Collection in the sections “Russian enamel”, “Russian metal artworks”, “Jewelry” and “Lapidary works of art”.

The recording of the lecture "Carl Faberge: jewelry manager" is available in the section “Lecture Course” (video).

Carl Faberge biography and the family firm history are in the section "Authors".

Based on: FSBIC "State Historical and Cultural Memorial Museum "Moscow Kremlin", Author: T.N. Muntian. Moscow, 2020