Following the recent revival of this revered brand, Fabergé takes a further step in becoming truly international with the opening of its first New York boutique, located at 694 Madison Avenue. From the little sketch above you can imagine that the bijoux-like boutique is intimate, inviting and a haven of luxury. In the spirit of the spectacular flagship in Geneva, the Madison Avenue store is decorated with silk curtains and wall panels, brushed oak flooring, painted wood accents, in a soft palette of grey and silver, punctuated with a rich purple button-backed wall, subtly evoking Romanov splendour. The striking facade of the boutique, a champagne coloured lattice, is inspired by the Coronation Egg, one of the legendary Imperial Easter eggs created by Peter Carl Fabergé in 1897, in celebration of the coronation of Tsar Nicholas II.
To celebrate Fabergé's historic links with America's great families - the Vanderbilts, Forbes and Morgans amongst others - the Madison Avenue boutique has launched an exclusive new collection, Les Précieuses de Fabergé paying tribute to the unrivalled style of America's Gilded Age society. Les Précieuses comprises a series of precious single stone cocktail rings and delicate earrings. The creations are each centred on a rare and dramatic coloured stone, set in an intricate diamond mount in two colours of gold, subtly interwoven with iconic Fabergé style references.
A century ago, the House of Fabergé, under the legendary Peter Carl Fabergé, goldsmith to the Russian Imperial Court, attracted the elite of America's Gilded Age society, collectors and connoisseurs. Henry Walters sailed his yacht up the River Neva in St Petersburg to pay a personal visit to Peter Carl Fabergé. The banker J. P. Morgan was a devoted client. For the Duchess of Marlborough, Consuelo Vanderbilt, considered one of the most beautiful and stylish women of her day, Fabergé created a spectacular pink enamelled clock egg, one of the few major egg objects made for clients other than the Romanovs. In the years after the closure of the House of Fabergé during the Russian Revolution, and through the 20th century, great American women of style and substance, including Marjorie Merriweather Post and Lillian Thomas Pratt, whose collection is now in Richmond's Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, have been amongst the avid and discerning collectors of Fabergé works of art. Other great American Fabergé collectors include the Louisiana heiress, Matilda Geddings Gray, India Early Minshall, of Ohio, and more recently the comedian Joan Rivers and most notably, Malcolm Forbes, whose unrivalled collection included nine Fabergé Imperial Easter Eggs.
To launch the boutique Fabergé has created a couture egg pendant, inspired by the original 1902 Fabergé egg, commissioned by the Duchess of Marlborough, the American beauty and heiress, Consuelo Vanderbilt, granddaughter of the American railroad magnate, Cornelius Vanderbilt, who had married the British Duke of Marlborough, in 1894.
This pendant features hand-guilloche engraved gold ground, encircled with a sinuous sculptural diamond-encrusted serpent, symbol of eternity and rebirth, with a single rose-cut pear-shaped diamond in its head. The pendant is finished with a luscious tassel of finest Akoya pearls fringed with briolette diamonds. This spectacular pendant is certain to turn heads on Madison Avenue.
