By Michel Kamidian
The year 2014 is a special year for the House of Fabergé, as it marks the 200th birthday of its founder, Gustav Fabergé (1814–1894). At the same time, it is also exactly 120 years since he passed away in Dresden, Germany.
Over the past 70 years, a staggering number of books and articles have been published about the Fabergé firm and its most famous member, Carl Fabergé. Sadly, most authors have contributed to a long list of Western publications that carelessly repeated the same stories over and over—stories that included serious factual errors. The source document for most books and articles was the controversial first biography of Carl Fabergé, written by H.C. Bainbridge in 1949. Rather than expanding knowledge of Fabergé, these publications offered little more than colour illustrations depicting the most lavish and famous creations. In the worst cases, authors even attributed obvious forgeries to Fabergé and, conversely, considered genuine masterpieces to have been made by other jewellers. In doing so, they harmed the historical and cultural heritage left by the Grand Maître. Thus, despite the enormous number of books published on Fabergé, our main protagonists—founder Gustav Fabergé and his son Carl Fabergé—remained poorly studied in Western literature.
For a much more detailed article on Western “experts” and “connoisseurs”, please visit: https://www.igorcarlfaberge.com/russian-art-in-danger-international-plot-against-the-heritage-of-the-great-faberge/
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