Gustav Fabergé (; 18 February 1814 – 3 January 1894) was a Russian

jeweller A bench jeweler is an artisan who uses a combination of skills to make and repair jewelry. Some of the more common skills that a bench jeweler might employ include antique restoration, silversmithing, goldsmithing, stone setting, engraving, ...

Baltic German Baltic Germans ( or , later ) are Germans, ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950), their resettlement in 1945 after the end ...

origin and the father of

Peter Carl Fabergé Peter Carl Gustavovich Fabergé (; – 24 September 1920; also known as Charles Fabergé) was a Russian goldsmith and jeweller. He is best known for creating Fabergé eggs made in the style of genuine Easter eggs, but using precious metals and ...

, maker of

Fabergé egg A Fabergé egg () is a jewelled egg first created by the jewellery firm House of Fabergé, in Saint Petersburg, Russia. As many as 69 Czarist Russia Era eggs were created, of which 61 are currently known to have survived. Virtually all of the ...

s. He established his own business in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, which his son inherited.

Life and career

Gustav Fabergé, a Baltic German, was born in the city of Pernau (now Pärnu) in

Livonia Livonia, known in earlier records as Livland, is a historical region on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. It is named after the Livonians, who lived on the shores of present-day Latvia. By the end of the 13th century, the name was extende ...

(present-day

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

) on 18 February 1814. His father, the artisan Pierre Favry (1768–1858; later Fabrier), moved to the

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages *Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...

province of Livonia, then part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. Pierre had moved there by 1800 from the German city of Schwedt an der Oder. He married a Silesian merchant’s daughter named Maria Louisa Elsner (1776–1855). His family were

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

s from

Picardy Picardy (; Picard language, Picard and , , ) is a historical and cultural territory and a former regions of France, administrative region located in northern France. The first mentions of this province date back to the Middle Ages: it gained it ...

living in Germany, having fled religious persecution in France at the end of the 17th century, after the Revocation of the

Edict of Nantes The Edict of Nantes () was an edict signed in April 1598 by Henry IV of France, King Henry IV and granted the minority Calvinism, Calvinist Protestants of France, also known as Huguenots, substantial rights in the nation, which was predominantl ...

. In 1796, he registered as a master joiner in Pärnu under the names of Peter Fabrier in 1796 and Peter Faberg in 1808. Their son Gustav was born in Pärnu, where he adopted the surname of Faberge in 1828. Gustav was apprenticed to Andreas Ferdinand Spiegel in Saint Petersburg. He then worked for Johann Wilhelm Keibel in the 1830s. Gustav qualified as a master in 1841. In 1842, he opened the jewelry firm

House of Fabergé The House of Fabergé (; ) was a jewellery firm founded in 1842 in Saint Petersburg, Russia, by Gustav Fabergé, using the accented name ''Fabergé''. Gustav's sons Peter Carl and Agathonand grandsons followed him in running the business until ...

, in a basement flat at ''12'' ''Bolshaya Morskaya Street'', and married Charlotte Maria Jungstedt (born Jungstedt), the daughter of a Danish artist, Carl Jungstedt. Among the pieces made by the firm during that time, we find a gold-mounted carnelian demi-parure, a gold-mounted diamond-set brooch and ear studs, and a gold-link bracelet. He employed Johann Alexander Gunst, Johann Eckhardt and, from 1857,

August Wilhelm Holmström August Wilhelm Holmström (2 October 1829 – 1903) was a Finnish silversmith, silver- and goldsmith. Born in Helsinki, Finland, he became an apprentice at the workshop of jeweller Karl Herold in St. Petersburg 1845—1850, master in 1857 with ...

. The limited information available about Gustav Fabergé’s work suggests that his output was quite modest, consisting mainly of simple jewelry pieces such as agate necklaces, bracelets, and spectacles. It is widely believed that his son, Carl Fabergé, was responsible for introducing innovative designs to the business.

was initially educated in Saint Petersburg. In 1860, Gustav Fabergé retired and, together with his wife and son, moved to

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

, leaving the business in the hands of Peter Hiskias Pending and V. A. Zaianchkovski. In Dresden, they lived at Walpurgisstraße and Victoriastraße, a few minutes’ walk from the Castle and the famous jewellery collection

Grünes Gewölbe The Green Vault (; ) is a museum located in Dresden, Germany, which contains the largest treasure collection in Europe. The museum was founded in 1723 by Augustus II the Strong, Augustus the Strong of Poland and Electorate of Saxony, Saxony, and f ...

, with the important jewellery of

Johann Melchior Dinglinger Johann Melchior Dinglinger (26 December 1664 –6 March 1731) was one of Europe's greatest goldsmiths, whose major works for the elector of Saxony, Augustus the Strong, survived in the Grünes Gewölbe (the "Green Vaults"), Dresden. Dingling ...

. Peter Carl continued his education in Dresden. A second son,

Agathon Agathon (; ; ) was an Athenian tragic poet whose works have been lost. He is best known for his appearance in Plato's '' Symposium,'' which describes the banquet given to celebrate his obtaining a prize for his first tragedy at the Lenaia in 4 ...

, was born to the couple two years later. A daughter, Wilhelmine Charlotte Fabergé was born 1850 in

. In 1864, Peter Carl Fabergé embarked upon a Grand Tour of Europe. He received tuition from respected goldsmiths in Germany, France and England, attended a course at Schloss’s Commercial College in Paris, and viewed the objects in the galleries of Europe’s leading museums. He returned to Saint Petersburg and married Augusta Julia Jacobs. For the following ten years, his father's trusted work master Peter Hiskias Pendin acted as his mentor and tutor. Upon Pendin's death in 1882, Peter Carl took over the business and was joined by his brother Agathon Fabergé, who died suddenly at a young age. Gustav Fabergé lived in

with his wife until she died in 1893. He died on 3 January 1894, aged 79, and was cremated in

Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine Wettins from 1640 until the ...

with his ashes buried next to his wife’s remains at Trinitatisfriedhof (Trinity Cemetery) in Dresden. A grave stone does not exist anymore.

Statue in Pärnu

Gustav Fabergé monument was opened in Pärnu on January 3, 2015 in the year of the bicentenary of his birth. The bronze statue is a gift to the city from Alexander Tenzo, the founder of TENZO jewellery house. Composition authors Alexander Tenzo and Vladislav Yakovsky. Sculptor Eugeny Burkov. The statue was mounted with support of the City Government of Pärnu and Pärnu Fabergé Society represented by Tiina Ojaste and Toomas Kuter.Teet Roosaar. Pärnut ehib Gustav Fabergé pronkskuju. ''

Pärnu Postimees ''Pärnu Postimees'' ('The Pärnu Postman', originally ''Perno Postimees ehk Näddalileht'' 'The Pärnu Postman or Weekly Newspaper') is an Estonian regional newspaper published in Pärnu County. First published on 5 June 1857, it is one of the o ...

'', January 6, 2015 (No. 2), p. 1.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Faberge, Gustav 1814 births 1894 deaths People from Pärnu People from Kreis Pernau

Gustav Gustav, Gustaf or Gustave may refer to: *Gustav (name), a male given name of Old Swedish origin Art, entertainment, and media * ''Primeval'' (film), a 2007 American horror film * ''Gustav'' (film series), a Hungarian series of animated short cart ...

Baltic-German people from the Russian Empire Fabergé workmasters People from the Russian Empire of French descent Immigrants to the Kingdom of Saxony

Life and career

Statue in Pärnu

See also

References

External links