Absolutely Fabergé: Fabergé launches exhibition to mark 1917 revolution

'Fabergé And The Russian Revolution’ will run in Piccadilly until Saturday
Chic piece: A vanity case worth £145,000
Fabergé

A collection of decadent items crafted by royal jeweller Peter Carl Fabergé will be displayed to mark the centenary of the Russian Revolution.

Mayfair jeweller Bentley & Skinner is displaying the rare creations synonymous with Imperial Russia and the Romanovs, who ruled the country for more than 300 years.

The first Fabergé egg was given as an Easter gift by Tsar Alexander III to his wife Maria Fyodorovna in 1885. That year, Carl Fabergé was made Goldsmith by special appointment to the Imperial Crown — creating hundreds of ornate and elaborate pieces for the family until 1917 when the Bolsheviks seized power.

Among the objets d’art being displayed is an £85,000 gold-mounted silver-gilt and enamel desk clock, a red enamel double miniature picture frame valued at £65,000, a pink and green enamel candle holder priced at £120,000 and a £145,000 gold and blue enamel vanity case.

Several Fabergé egg pendants are in the collection, priced up to £30,000. Visitors can also see a £70,000 gold and rock crystal inkwell, and an Imperial Fabergé silver-gilt and enamel thermometer at £125,000. Only about 40 Fabergé eggs are in existence, none of which is in the display. Bentley and Skinner’s collection was built up over decades by John Sheldon, the great uncle of the company’s managing director, Mark Evans.

Bentley & Skinner’s free exhibition 'Fabergé And The Russian Revolution’ will run at their Piccadilly store until Saturday.

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