mskhelad:

May 30, 1846.
Peter Carl Fabergé, the Goldsmith of the Imperial Crown, was born.

He was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, to the Baltic German jeweller Gustav Fabergé and his Danish wife Charlotte Jungstedt. In 1860, the family retired to Dresden. From there, in 1864, Peter Carl embarked upon a Grand Tour of Europe. He received tuition from respected goldsmiths in Germany, France and England… His travel and study continued until 1872, when at the age of 26 he returned to St. Petersburg.

After the dead of Hiskias, his tutor, in 1882, Carl Fabergé took sole responsibility for running the company; he was awarded the title of Master Goldsmith, and Agathon Fabergé, his brother, joined the business.

Carl and Agathon were a sensation at the Pan-Russian Exhibition held in Moscow in 1882. Carl was awarded a gold medal and the St. Stanisias Medal. The Tsar ordered that objects by the House of Fabergé should be displayed in the Hermitage as examples of superb contemporary Russian craftsmanship. In 1885, Tsar Alexander III gave the House of Fabergé the title ‘Goldsmith by special appointment to the Imperial Crown’.

Also, Tsar Alexander III commissioned the House of Fabergé to make an Easter egg as a gift for his wife, the Empress Maria Fedorovna. The first Imperial egg was The Hen’s egg.

The Tsar placed an order for another egg the following year. From 1887, Carl Fabergé was apparently given complete freedom with regard to design, which then become more and more elaborate. Not even the Tsar knew what form they would take: the only stipulation was that each one should contain a surprise. The next Tsar, Nicholas II, ordered two eggs each year, one for his mother and one for his wife, Alexandra. He made a total of 54 Imperial eggs, of which only 42 have survived.

The tradition continued until 1917. In the chaos of the October Revolution, Peter Carl sold his shares in the company to his employees and fled to Wiesbaden. He died in exile a few years later in Lausanne, Switzerland, and was buried next to his wife Augusta in Cannes, France.

crazymadfoolnot:

Photo by Richard Avedon Vogue 1974

(Source: neetria)

(Source: defyingexplanation)