Fabergé: Lost and Found

by A. Kenneth Snowman

For more than twenty-five years Carl Fabergé and his firm served as jewelers and goldsmith to the Tsars of Russia, European royalty, and the powerful and influential throughout the world. The enchanting Imperial Easter Eggs, gold boxes, flowers in crystal vases, animal and bird carvings, as well as necklaces, earrings, pendants, rings, and diadems created by the House of Fabergé in the late 1800s and early 1900s are known the world over for their superb craftsmanship and originality. In Fabergé: Lost and Found author A. Kenneth Snowman tells the story of his recent and astonishing discovery of two of the original design books from the workshops of the House of Fabergé in St. Petersburg.

Within the pages of these record books are countless meticulous watercolour and ink drawings of, it seems, every jewel that was made by the firm from 1909 to 1915. Each design is dated and accompanied by detailed handwritten instructions as to type, number, and weight of gemstones, precious metal setting, and colour of enameling to be used in carrying out the piece. Hundreds of these invaluable - and incredibly beautiful - drawings are reproduced here for the first time, most in full colour, with captions describing the jewel, the materials to be used, and the date of execution. And very often the actual finished jewels are photographed next to the drawings from which they were created.

Among the ingenious treasures are jewels made specially for the 300th anniversary celebration of the House of Romanoff and the famous miniature and large Imperial Easter Eggs - including one owned by Queen Elizabeth II - in a variety that seems as endless as the demand for these objects so beloved by the Russian and European aristocracy . Also included are drawings for the frost flower brooches and pendants that the nephew of Alfred Nobel used to give to ladies attending his dinners. And amid the columns of pendants, brooches, tiepins, cuff links, earrings, hair combs, diadems, necklaces, rings, and bracelets, one comes to a full-page drawing of one of Fabergé's flower studies, a spray of forget-me-nots in a vase, with indication of exactly how the flower and rock-crystal vase - filled halfway with "water" - was to be carried out.

A Kenneth Snowman is Chairman and grandson of the founder of Wartski, the London jewelry firm that has helped form many of the outstanding Fabergé collections of the world. He has written many books and articles on gold and jewelry and is the editor of Abrams' The Master jewelers and contributor to Abram's Masterpieces from the House of Fabergé. Snowman was curator and wrote the catalogues for the Fabergé exhibitions at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, in 1977 and at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, New York, in 1983. Fabergé: Lost and Found is critically important document for jewelry collectors and historians and a delight for anyone who cares for fine craftsmanship and exquisite drawing.

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