On 24 November 2020, the formal opening ceremony for the exhibition “Fabergé, Jeweller to the Imperial Court” took place in the State Hermitage.
The exhibition presents works by Carl Fabergé (1846–1920), the celebrated jeweller and outstanding master of the jeweller’s trade, that were created more than 100 years ago. The new display in the Armorial Hall of the Winter Palace was opened by Mikhail Piotrovsky, General Director of the State Hermitage.
“Today we are presenting an imperial interlude. Fabergé as imperial jeweller, Supplier to the Imperial Court, a man who acquired his skills as a jeweller from working as a restorer on the Hermitage’s treasures. He is represented by creations from our own tsarist collection, from two imperial collections – Pavlovsk and Peterhof, and from three new museums – the Fabergé Museum in Baden-Baden, the Russian National Museum in Moscow and the Museum of Christian Culture in Saint Petersburg. We are delighted to be showing all of this today”
Present at the opening ceremony in the Armorial Hall were Olga Grigoryevna Kostiuk, Head of the State Hermitage’s Department of Western European Applied Art, Svetlana Viktorovna Kokareva, Deputy Head of the Department, and Tatiana Valeryevna Baboshina, researcher in the Department and curator of the exhibition.
“This is a remarkable exhibition. This is the celebrated Fabergé. This is the Winter Palace. The display is dedicated to the memory of the author of this exhibition, Marina Nikolayevna Lopato, who passed away recently. Marina Nikolayevna was a wonderful specialist, the keeper of Western European jewellery, an expert on the jewellery trade in Saint Petersburg, an expert on Fabergé. Everyone remembers her and respects her memory,” the Hermitage Director said. “Marina Nikolayevna was the curator of the celebrated exhibition ‘Fabergé, Court Jeweller’ that was held successfully in Saint Petersburg in 1993, in the State Hermitage, and later in London and Paris. That exhibition became a historic event. It was created through international efforts, and it brought together many collections at that time. It was Fabergé’s triumph thanks to the Hermitage.”
After the formal presentation, Tatiana Baboshina conducted an online walk through the new display, a video recording of which can be found in the museum’s social media.
In a tribute to a great master, the Hermitage is showing in all their diversity creations that have never ceased to delight and to amaze with the imagination and skilful execution that they display. The works produced by imperial Russia’s last court jeweller, whose activities were inseparably bound up with the Winter Palace and the Imperial Hermitage, speak of the exquisite taste and love of beauty of its former inhabitants.
The display in the Armorial Hall of the Winter Palace includes items from the stocks of the State Hermitage, the Fabergé Museum in Baden-Baden (Germany), the Peterhof State Museum-Preserve, the Pavlovsk State Museum-Preserve, the Russian National Museum (Moscow) and the Museum of Christian Culture (Saint Petersburg).
A scholarly illustrated catalogue, Faberzhe – iuvelir Imperatorskogo dvora (2020), has been produced by the State Hermitage publishing house for the exhibition.
The catalogue has a foreword by Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky, General Director of the State Hermitage, entitled “Fabergé is back in the Winter Palace”.
The author of the exhibition concept and the introduction to the catalogue is the late Marina Nikolayevna Lopato (1942–2020), Doctor of Art Studies, one of the foremost researchers into the work of Carl Fabergé, Head of the Artistic Metal and Stone Sector in the State Hermitage’s Department of Western European Applied Art (1978–2020).
The catalogue was compiled by Tatiana Valeryevna Baboshina, researcher in the State Hermitage’s Department of Western European Applied Art. The catalogue was designed by Irina Mikhailovna Dalekaya.
The exhibition in the Armorial Hall of the Winter Palace can be visited during museum opening hours by holders of tickets to the Main Museum Complex for either Fixed Route №1 (entry by the Jordan Staircase) or Fixed Route №2 (entry by the Church Staircase).
A recording of the opening ceremony is on YouTube: https://youtu.be/a31ZNlGrSj4
