Fabergé. The very word suggests aristocratic elegance—fit for kings and queens, especially the royal Russian Romanov family. Imperial Easter eggs are among the 500 objects created by Peter Carl Fabergé (1846-1920), on view in Fabergé Revealed, an exhibition at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond through October 2.

Peter Carl Fabergé was born in the Alsatian region of France, the son of a jeweler who eventually made his way to St. Petersburg, Russia. In 1872, eight years after joining the family business, Peter took over his father’s firm, and Russian royalty began to take notice of his carefully designed, bejewelled objets de vertu, or lavishly decorated, small, personal items.

Czar Alexander II, who ruled from 1855-1881, commissioned the Fabergé  firm to create the first jeweled egg to commemorate Easter. It was called the Imperial Hen Egg, and it was a gift to Czarina Maria Feodorovna from her devoted husband. That same year the House of Fabergé became “Goldsmith by special appointment to the Imperial Crown.”

Following Czar Alexander III’s rule from 1881 until 1894, Nicholas II assumed the throne, continuing the tradition of presenting elaborate Fabergé eggs to his wife Alexandra Feodorovna and his mother Maria Feodorovna. The Imperial Peter the Great Easter Egg with its miniature statue was made in 1903 as a gift for Czarina Alexandra Feodorovna from Czar Nicholas II. The eggs were greatly admired, and some were even made for select private clients such as the Rothschilds and the industrialist Alexander Kelch.

Fabergé had complete freedom of artistic design; the only royal stipulation was that each egg would contain an unusual surprise, usually within the egg. Even Russian subjects became excited, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the eggs. Eventually, the Fabergé firm began creating small eggs to be worn on chains around the neck that the public could afford.

The exhibition gathers together four varied Fabergé collections, each with a different focus. The Lillian Thomas Pratt Collection, bequeathed to the VMFA in 1947, gave the museum the distinction of owning five of the 42 surviving eggs. The Arthur and Dorothy McFerrin Foundation Collection includes a dazzling gold and platinum tiara (1900) studded with gorgeous diamonds of all sizes and shapes. Seven very large pendant pear shaped diamonds are suspended under the headpiece’s pointed arches.

The McFerrins also own the frigid Nobel Ice Egg, often called the Snowflake Egg, made in 1913 for Dr. Emmanuel Nobel, nephew of Dr. Alfred Nobel, creator of the Nobel Prize. It is an appropriate symbol of the icy Russian winters. Although not an Imperial egg, like all the Imperial Easter Eggs it contains a surprise inside—a miniature watch of platinum, diamonds and rock crystal.

A delicate Lilies of the Valley Basket (1903) on view is part of the Matilda Geddings Gray Foundation at the Cheekwood Botanical Garden. The Hodges Family Collection owns the fascinating, chunky Persian turquoise stone with a silver serpent coiled around it. The Hodges have been buying Fabergé objects for the past 10 years, mostly at auction, building a collection of 100 silver and art objects. There is a section called Fauxbergés—even Cartier copied the master.

The October Revolution broke out in 1917. Shortly thereafter, the House of Fabergé was seized and nationalized by the Bolsheviks. Peter Carl Fabergé fled to Germany, a broken man. He died in Switzerland just a few years later in 1920. Czar Nicholas II and Czarina Alexandra Feodorovna were imprisoned and executed by Bolsheviks. The House of Fabergé and the Russian monarchy were no more.

Thousands of Fabergé objects were seized and hidden. Anxious dealers eventually sold precious Fabergé items for the price of their stones and gold and silver. It was the end of an era. The collectors of Fabergé , however, have provided the world with links to a brilliant period of Russian history abruptly and brutally eradicated.  

Fabergé Revealed is on view at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts through October 2, 2011. Information and tickets are available at www.vmfa.museum.

Ginger Levit is a private art dealer who writes about art, antiques and travel. Contact her at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .