Fabergé Friday

When I started writing these Fabergé Friday posts, I began by going through all the 43 surviving (of 50) Imperial Easter Eggs Fabergé created for the Russian Imperial Family. After the Russian Revolution, no more commissions for these eggs was made, for obvious reasons... But the jewel firm Fabergé still exists, and earlier this year they presented the first new Imperial Egg created in 99 years - the Fabergé Pearl Egg. It has been created to mark the 100th anniversary since the last Imperial Egg was commissioned, and Fabergé's spokeswoman, Alize Morand, says this is the first egg of several soon to be unveiled by Fabergé.

The Fabergé Pearl Egg has been hand crafted in the same manner as the original Fabergé eggs, and draws its inspiration from the formation of a pearl within an oyster. The egg is decorated with approximately 3,300 diamonds, 139 natural pearls, carved rock-crystal and mother-of-pearl set on white and yellow gold. Just like its forbearers, this egg also opens up to reveal a secret - a rare 12.17 carat grey pearl from the Arabian Gulf.

It took 20 highly-skilled craftsmen around 18 months to design, acquire the precious materials and build the egg. It was shown earlier this year at Baselworld, after which it went home to its new owner - Hussain Al-Fardan, chairman of the Alfardan Group, and founding director of Investcorp.

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Fabergé Friday

Summer is here, and flowers are everywhere! Unfortunately they will all wither and die too soon... But some flowers bloom forever. Like this Convolvulus by Fabergé for example. It was made around the year 1900!

The flowers are made of enameled gold, with centers of rose-cut diamonds, gold stems, and leaves of nephrite. The plant sits in a bowenite trough, and it's dimensions are 4.4'' x 2.6'' x 1'' (11.1 x 6.5 x 2.5 cm). In 1908 it was bought by Vita Sackville-West from Fabergé's London branch. After that it was owned by Sir Bernard Eckstein, who sold it at Sotheby's on February 8, 1949. It was subsequently presented by the royal family to Queen Mary for her birthday on May 26 that same year. It is now part of the Royal Collection. 

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Sevan Bicakci

When he was just twelve years old, Sevan Bicakci started his career as a jeweler, as an intern in Hovsep Catak's workshop. In 2002 he created his firs personal collection, inspired by the historical Grand Bazaar - Sultanahmet area in Turkey, where he spends a lot of time. His unique, very intrinsic creations has since then attracted the attention of private collectors, and some distinguished stores. Sevan also has his own boutiques in Dubai and Istanbul.

When I first saw these pieces, it felt like I had just opened the book A Thousand and One Nights, and they just fell out from the pages... The big gems on the rings contain stories of their own, is you look closely, and the earrings are perfect for any Arabian Princess. It wouldn't surprise me if you could make carpets fly by waving one of these pieces around a bit...

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Want more? Visit Sevan Bicakci's website here!

Fabergé Friday

I just realized I haven't shown you any of Fabergé's flower creations yet! He made many of these, and thought it fitting to start with my favorite flower - Lily of the Valley - made around the year 1899!

The delicate bell-shaped flowers are made of pearls, edged with tiny rose diamonds. They are attached to stems of gold, on which also sits a pair of Siberian nephrite leaves. The whole creation rests in a vase made out of rock crystal, carved to resemble a water-filled glass vase.

The Lily of the Valley was also the favorite flower of Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna. She used to import these flowers from the south of France, which were kept on ice during the long train ride to Russia. After buying this one from Fabergé though, she had one that never faded...

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Fabergé Friday

Today I guess the need for letter openers isn't so big, since we usually read our mail on computer screens. Once upon a time though, people wrote letters by hand! Imagine that! So here are a few pictures of one of those letter openers people used back in the day - this one conveniently made by Fabergé. I mean, it is Friday after all!

The blade has been carved out of a single piece of Siberian Jade, and the handle - designed like intertwining batwings - is made of gold, set with cabochon moonstones and two cabochon rubies. 

The letter opener is 7 inches (18 centimeters) long, and it was created by workmaster Mikhail Perchin. On 17th December 1899 it was bought by Dowager Tsarina Maria Feodorovna. 

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Fabergé Friday

It's FRIDAY!!! And I guess we all know what that means by now...FABERGÉ!!! No jewelry this week though. But a lovely little box, created sometime between 1899 and 1903 by Fabergé's head workmaster Mikhail Perkhin!

This little box - 2 inches (5 centimeters) in diameter - is made of pearl white enamel over a guilloché ground. The border around the opening is crafted in two-colored gold.

The thumb piece is set with a cabochon ruby and two diamonds...

...and underneath the box is a star decoration.

The gold flower on top of the lid is set with two rubies, an emerald, three brilliant and three rose-cut diamonds.

Even on the inside you can see what an amazing piece of art this is.

Mikhail Perkhin made a considerable fortune working for Fabergé. He never really got an opportunity to enjoy it though. According to a biography written by Fabergé's chief-designer Franz Birbaum, Perkhin died in a mental asylum...

All pictures are from Romanov Russia.

Fabergé Friday

So few Fabergé eggs left now...And non of them have known names...Here is the next one:

This 2,75 kilos, silver, gold and gold plate egg was kept in a collection in Eastern Europe for over fifty years.

When opened up, it reveals a beautiful sailing ship in gold.

Today's second egg was made sometime before 1896:

This gold egg is covered in white enamel, and decorated with laurel wreaths and bows of different colored gold. 340 diamonds, and 28 cabochon rubies also deck it's surface.

The surprise consist of a gold basket filled with gold flowers covered in white enamel, with green enamel leaves, and ruby centers.

Dior Jewelry

As many of you know I love Dior! This fashion house doesn't just produce clothes, but also - like many other fashion houses - jewelry! The jewelry collections from Dior ranges from classic and simple, to opulent and fantastic. But just because it says "Dior" on the pieces doesn't mean I like them all...Today I'll show you what I do like though!

My Dior

Ring in white gold and diamonds.

Bois de Rose

Ring in white gold and diamonds.

Bracelet in white gold and diamonds.

Rose Dior Bagatelle

Earrings in white gold and diamonds.

Ring in white gold and diamonds.

Ring in white gold and diamonds.

Bracelet in white gold and diamonds.

Rose Dior Pré Catelan

Earrings in pink gold and pink quartz.

Earrings in yellow gold and onyx.

Earrings in yellow gold and red coral.

Ring in yellow gold and blue chalcedony.

Ring in yellow gold and onyx.

Ring in pink gold and pink quartz.

Couture

Cygne Blanc. Ring in white gold and diamonds.

Petit Tralala. Ring in white gold and diamonds.

Cygne Blanc. Earrings in white gold and diamonds.

Provocante. Necklace in white gold and diamonds.

Exceptional Pieces

Précieuses Rose. Ring.

Précieuses Rose. Earrings.

If you want to see the whole collections visit Dior's jewelry page. Now I'm gonna go write a little letter to Santa...

René Lalique

René Lalique (1860 - 1945) was a French artist, glassmaker and jeweler. Going through everything he created in his life would become a very long post, so I'm only going to focus on his jewelry here. When creating his Art Nouveau pieces he took his inspiration from both the French countryside and the Japanese natural world. Lalique was a very innovative man and he incorporated many materials not often used in jewelry in his pieces, like glass, horn, enamel, ivory, semi-precious stones and pearls. When he used precious stones it was only for what they brought to the piece of jewelry, and not for their value as gems. Glassmaker Emile Galle called Lalique "the inventor of modern jewelry", and here follows some of his works.

Don't you just love that bird-collar in the next to last picture?!!! The last object is actually a diadem, shaped as a mermaid! In the future I know at least I will be searching for Lalique objects when I go antique-hunting!