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Gustav Fabergé

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Gustav Fabergé
Fabergé, c. 1860s
Born(1814-02-08)8 February 1814
Pärnu, Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire
Died3 January 1894(1894-01-03) (aged 79)
Dresden, Kingdom of Saxony, German Empire
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1842; died 1893)​
Children5, Alexandra Caroline Fabergé (2 Aug 1844 – 10 Jan 1896), Peter Carl Fabergé (30 May 1846 – 24 Sep 1920), Wilhelmine Charlotte Fabergé (18 Mar 1848 – Nov 1928), Agatha Emilie Fabergé (25 Sep 1853 – 9 Jun 1858), Agathon Gustavovich Fabergé (30 Oct 1862 – 29 Mar 1895)

Peter Gustav Fabergé (Russian: Густав Фаберже; 18 February 1814 – 3 January 1894) known as Gustav Fabergé was a Russian jeweller of Baltic German origin and the father of Peter Carl Fabergé, maker of Fabergé eggs. He established his own business in Saint Petersburg with his wife Marie Fabergé, which both their sons inherited.

Life and career

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Gustav Fabergé was born on 18 February 1814 in Pernau (today Pärnu, Estonia), in the Governorate of Livonia. He was the son of Peter Fabergé (1768 Schwedt, Germany-1858 Pärnu linn, Estonia) (first Pierre Favry, later Fabri, Fabrier, then Fabergé), a master joiner and artisan who had settled in Pärnu around 1796, and his wife Maria Louise Elsner (1776–1855), a merchant's daughter from Silesia. [1] Pärnu guild records list Peter Fabrier as a Tischlermeister (master carpenter) in 1796 and as Peter Faberg in 1808, indicating the gradual Germanisation of the surname. He had 5 siblings: Wilhelmina Carolina Maria Fabergé (20 June 1798–26 January 1872), Catharina Helena Fabrier (1801–1803), Carl Friedrich Fabrier (1803–1803), Jacobina Catharina Fabergé (4 October 1805–1900), Emilie Agathe Fabergé (24 January 1808–15 October 1895).

The family's deeper roots lie in northern France, in Picardy, where their Huguenot ancestors lived before the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685). Fleeing persecution, they settled in Brandenburg-Prussia.

By the early 19th century the Fabergés were fully German-speaking Lutherans. Their son Gustav grew up in Pärnu, in a household attached to the Evangelical-Lutheran Church, and formally adopted the spelling Fabergé in 1828.[2]

Gustav qualified as a master in 1841. In 1842, he opened the jewelry firm House of Fabergé in Saint Petersburg, in a basement flat at 12 Bolshaya Morskaya Street, and married Marie Fabergé (born Jungstedt), the daughter of a German-Lutheran Danish artist, Carl Jungstedt.[3] 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.[4] He employed Johann Alexander Gunst, Johann Eckhardt and, from 1857, August Wilhelm Holmström.[5] 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.[4] Peter Carl Fabergé was initially educated in Saint Petersburg. In 1860, Gustav Fabergé retired and, together with his wife and son, moved to Dresden, 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, with the important jewellery of Johann Melchior Dinglinger.[6] Peter Carl continued his education in Dresden. The other children were: Alexandra Fabergé (1844-1896), Wilhelmine Fabergé (1848-1928), Agatha Fabergé (1853-1858) and Agathon (1862-1895).

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.[7]

Gustav Fabergé and his wife, Charlotte Jungstedt, 1890s

Gustav Fabergé lived in Dresden with his wife and their son Agathon until she died in August 17 1903. He died on 3 January 1894, aged 79, and was cremated in Gotha with his ashes buried next to his wife's remains at Trinitatisfriedhof (Trinity Cemetery) in Dresden. A gravestone no longer exists.[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]

Statue in Pärnu

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Gustav Fabergé bronze statue was installed in Pärnu in 2015 in the year of the bicentenary of his birth.[16]

References

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  1. ^ Estonia, Lutheran Guild and Parish Registers, Pärnu, 1796–1808.
  2. ^ Valentin Skurlov, Gustav Fabergé and His Dresden Years, Moscow 2018.
  3. ^ "The House of Fabergé". DSF Antique Jewelry. Retrieved 2025-02-25.
  4. ^ a b Geza Von Habsburg (1988-09-01). Faberge. Internet Archive.
  5. ^ Lexicon [permanent dead link]
  6. ^ "Biografie von".
  7. ^ Bianchi, Robert Steven (2000). Faberge : imperial craftsman and his world : exhibition album. Internet Archive. London : Booth-Clibborn Editions. ISBN 978-1-86154-204-5.
  8. ^ "Mitten in Dresden. Zaren-Juweliere: Geheim-Grab der Fabergé-Familie entdeckt". 4 May 2014.
  9. ^ H. C. BAINBRIDGE, Peter Carl Fabergé, London 1949 (Neudr. 1966, 1974)
  10. ^ G. v. HABSBURG-LOTHRINGEN, C. F. Die glanzvolle Welt eines königlichen Juweliers, in: DU Europäische Kunstzeitschr., Nr. 442, Dez. 1977, S. 51 ff.
  11. ^ G. v. HABSBURG-LOTHRINGEN, A. v. SOLODKOFF, F. Court Jeweler to the Tsars, Fribourg 1979 (Neudr. 1984), dt. Ausg. 1979
  12. ^ A. K. SNOWMAN, C. F., Goldsmith to the Imperial Court of Russia, London 1979
  13. ^ H. WATERFIELD, C. FORBES, C. F. Imperial Easter Eggs and Other Fantasies, New York 1978, London 1979
  14. ^ A. v. SOLODKOFF, Masterpieces from the House of F., New York 1984
  15. ^ G. v. HABSBURG, F. Hofjuwelier der Zaren, Kat. d. Bayer. Nat. Mus. und der Kunsthalle d. Hypo-Kulturstiftung München, München 1986/87.
  16. ^ Pärnu Postimees, January 6, 2015 (No. 2), p. 1.
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  • Media related to Gustav Fabergé at Wikimedia Commons
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