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Case 15. Historic Inspirations:
The Faberge firm initially gained fame by copying ancient gold treasures. Throughout the life of the company, Faberge's designers made free use of the past for inspiration. Workers in St. Petersburg were renowned for elegant objects that revived earlier styles associated with the royal courts of Europe. Whether working independently or for Faberge, artisans in Moscow favored the Old-Russian style associated with their nation's colorful medieval past. Each of the pieces in this case can be linked to design ideas explored by craftspeople from other places and times.
* Supported by fantastic silver sea horses, a majestic nephrite covered cup recalls the German treasures that Faberge saw in the Green Vaults of Dresden -- an important royal collection -- during his student days.
* Inspired by an 18th-century French necessaire (needle and scissors case), a beautifully chased golden egg was actually a container for a jeweled ring.
* The Faberge workshops created a number of columnar picture frames that were inspired by French forms of the previous century.
* The goldwork of an elegant can handle resembles that on a mid-18th-century English bodkin (needle) case.
* Late 19th-century Russian paintings were copied in enamel by Fedor Ruckert, who regularly supplied Faberge with cloisonne enameled pieces in the Old-Russian style.
* The kovsh, a medieval Russian drinking vessel in the shape of a Viking ship or a swimming bird, had become an important ceremonial form by the time a workmaster in St. Petersburg gave this Old-Russian-style form the jeweled and enameled surface associated with imperial court tastes in the capital. Another kovsh, styled as a then-modern art nouveau piece, recalls how past art continually influences the present.
* A tankard by the Pavel Ovchinnikov firm closely recalls a 17th-century Turkish tanyard in the Russian imperial collection. |