A real miracle: the exquisite stone flowers of Carl Faberge

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

When it comes to Carl Faberge, the first thing that comes to mind is his amazing masterpieces - Easter eggs, which made this master famous all over the world. But no less beautiful are his other jewelry made from various gems, especially for the amazingly beautiful and graceful flowers, of which he most of all loved the modest field.

For these purposes, Faberge used a palette of various minerals. He was the first, having appreciated the multicolor of the Ural, Siberian and Caucasian gems, began to work with them, learned to change their natural color in order to achieve the required shade, knew how to give any color to gold, boldly combined noble materials and not so much in his products. The great master possessed many secrets, which jewelers still cannot solve.

Faberge developed an interest in making flowers shortly after one day a bouquet of chrysanthemums made in China was brought to the workshop for restoration for restoration. Faberge was delighted with the work of the Chinese masters, got the idea to create his own "herbarium" and soon, together with his masters, began to create stone flowers.

Real artisans worked in the Faberge Jewelry House, such as Mikhail Evlampievich Perkhin, August Wilhelm Holmstrom, Henrik Emmanuel Wigstrem, Eric August Collin, who glorified the name of Faberge throughout Europe.

In 1896, merchants from Nizhny Novgorod presented Empress Alexandra Feodorovna with a gift of extraordinary beauty in honor of the coronation - a bunch of forest lilies of the valley in a golden basket, while the flowers of the lilies of the valley were made of pearls and diamonds, and the leaves, just like living ones, were made of jade. This work was a copy of a decoration from the palace of the Chinese emperor.

It should be noted that Faberge did not welcome pure copying, he believed that the products of each artist should be unique.

Faberge did not attach much importance to the cost of products, they could be estimated at either one ruble or one hundred thousand rubles, depending on the materials used. And above all, Carl Faberge appreciated the idea, artistic imagination and skill of jewelers and virtuoso stone-cutters.

He did not feel much reverence for expensive materials either. If he didn’t like the finished product, it didn’t have the charm that he wanted to see in the end, Faberge could break it without regret.

The vases for flowers by the masters of the Faberge house were mainly made of rock crystal using a special technology. Thanks to its transparency, the illusion was created that the flowers are standing in vessels with real water.

One of the most amazing flowers created by Faberge is the common dandelion, with a golden stem and jade leaves, which has been kept in the Armory Chamber of the Moscow Kremlin since 1995.

Looking at this dandelion, there is a complete feeling that this fragile creature has just been carefully picked and put into water. And the master managed to stop the moment …

The most amazing thing about this flower is that real dandelion fluff is fixed at the ends of its silver stamens in a completely incomprehensible way. Moreover, there are still small diamonds scattered on top, which, under certain lighting conditions, sparkle like dew drops. Even biologists were called in for the examination of the fluff, and they reliably established that it is real, and the age of the fluff corresponds to the date of creation of this masterpiece - about a hundred years. How Faberge managed to fix the weightless feathers and ensure their safety is completely incomprehensible …

Another unique creation called "Pansies", the likes of which is not found in the world, was created in 1904.

A special miniature mechanism is hidden inside it, which is triggered when you press a tiny button. The petals of the flower open up, and portraits of all the children of the imperial family appear inside it. Nicholas II presented this flower to his wife on the tenth anniversary of their wedding.

Fabergé's craftsmen and designers have created many flower arrangements from individual flowers and bouquets, looking at which it is impossible to believe that they are made of stone. Let's admire these amazing flowers …

The largest collection of stone flowers by Faberge is now in the property of Queen Elizabeth II of England, 26 works out of 80 made. The main part of the collection was collected at one time by Queen Alexandra of Britain, who is the sister of the Russian Empress Maria Feodorovna.