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The Art of Fabergé The extraordinary success that Peter Carl Fabergé achieved in his lifetime and the fact that his work is remembered and remains so highly coveted can be explained in a number of ways. Fabergé articles represent the very highest traditions of the historic European applied arts. Fabergé articles were made using the finest quality materials and utilized the skills of the very best and most talented craftsmen. Yet, there is another factor, an almost indefinable element that distinguishes the work of Fabergé from that of all others - a unique quality that combines superb craftsman ship, inventive design with sublime playfulness to achieve a sensitivity and delicate, almost ephemeral design balance.Today this unique combination of elements is recognized throughout the world by one word - Fabergé. The Fabergé firm played a leading role in Russian and European decorative art during the late 19th and early 20th century. Working for the Russian Imperial Court, Fabergé was able to make a wealth of fine objects, some simple and some elaborate, but all inventively designed an meticulously executed. Fabergé believed that the intrinsic value of an object was its design, and not necessarily the number or carat weight of the stones or the amount of gold that was used to create an object. This was a novel and unique concept at the time. During the 1890's the Fabergé workshop became noted for enameling techniques. Through innovations in the technique of enameling, Fabergé attained a subtlety and brilliance that was unmatched. The technique of enameling is an extremely delicate one involving firing the enamel (a compound of glass and metal oxides) at very high temperatures. Often an enamel object combined different colors of enamel, and it was therefore necessary to individually fire the different colors at different temperatures. Fabergé's superb enameling techniques are perhaps the most important aspect of his work. Fabergé was noted for an extensive range of enamel colors, numbering up to 150 different shades. In fact, it was not unusual for women to have dresses made to match the enamel colors of their Fabergé jewelry. In the enameling process, enamel is applied by fusion to a metallic surface. The word "fusion" is the key to the enameling operation. For enamel to become soft, so that it can be applied to a metal surface, it must be heated to a high temperature, and it is precisely this heating process that makes enamel work so difficult. Traditionally, the finest translucent enamel is heated to approximately 600 degrees centigrade. However, the Fabergé workshop often fired enamel at temperatures that ranged up to 800 degrees centigrade. At such tremendously high temperatures, any slight error or miscalculation in the preparation or application of the enamel would cause defects and imperfections in the enamel. Fabergé personally inspected all articles and any imperfect objects were discarded. A characteristic of Fabergé enameling is the even quality and perfect smoothness of its surface. The texture of Fabergé enamel is perfect smoothness, without any imperfections or "pimples". Fabergé perfected the challenging technique known as en ronde bosse-that is, enameling on curved surfaces. This type of enameling allows for no margin of error and is the most difficult to achieve. However, Fabergé became most famous for his enamel guilloché. Enamel guilloché is the pleasing effect that is achieved when translucent enamel is applied over an engraved design on a metal surface using a machine known as a tour à guilloché. Using this turning device, a variety of patterns called guilloché patterns could be engraved in the surface of the metal, the most popular being moiré and basket weave designs. In order to achieve the highly translucent effect, each layer of enamel , and there could be as many as 5 or 6 layers, had to be individually fired. Examples of Fabergé enamel guilloché work are the sunburst pattern on the Imperial Coronation Egg or the shell pattern on the Pine Cone Egg. Fabergé Also applied enamel over a guilloché ground on decorative picture frames, cigarette cases, desk clocks and other articles. Today the Fabergé collection features many beautiful enamel guilloché objects: eggs, picture frames, clocks, etc. Some of these articles are still produced using the same enameling methods that were used by Peter Carl Fabergé more than a century ago. However, many currently produced Fabergé objects are made using contemporary manufacturing techniques that replicate the beautiful effects of Fabergé's high fired translucent enamels. Modern science has developed enameling techniques that do not require high temperature firing, yet achieve the pleasing effect of true enamel guilloché at much lower costs.
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