Natalia N. Sapfirova
Advertisements of C. Faberge
Company
Despite a considerable
amount of scientific research on the subject of Faberge activity, the name of
great Russian jeweler still have many mysteries to the modern world. The
history of the company now is very interesting for a wide audience, and members
of this audience are located in different parts of the globe. Research of this
theme can open some new questions. We will try to answer some of them in this
article and provide readers with clarifying information.
The unifying theme for a further presentation
will be the advertisement of the firm of Supplier of the Highest Court, C.
Faberge. This advertising contains a logo, exact information regarding the
start of production work, addresses, telephones, type of the activities,
awards. Also, this ad can be used as illustration of typical style preferences
of the Russian Empire pre-revolutionary era.
In particular, in advertising which placed in
catalog of the Paris World Exhibition in 1900, the firm C. Faberge reports an
exact branches opening dates. For St. Petersburg branch the date of production
start is August 1842, for Moscow branch is February 1, 1887, for Odessa branch
- January 1, 1900. According to Valentin V.
Skurlov, the candidate of art history and Faberge scientist from St.
Petersburg, in a memorandum of His Imperial Majesty the eldest son of C.
Faberge, Eugene Faberge marks the date of opening Odessa branch as 1900. This
ad, in its turn, complements the information with an exact date - January 1,
1900.
More than, this ad contains
a very interesting information regarding real address of Odessa shop. As known,
a store of the firm C. Faberge was located at the address: Deribasovskaya
street, 31. However, the advertisement informs the address of Deribasovskaya,
24. The author asked Odessa historians to check this information and they found
out - they haven't info regarding a store of C. Faberge at the both address in
this period. But there must be a reason for the fact of this address, which
indicated in the advertisement of K. Faberge. Therefore, this moment in history
of the company is still open and we will hope that someyime we will get an
answer to it.
One of questions from
admirers of the talent of K. Faberge is concerned in spelling of his name. In
Russian version - K. FABERGE, in French - C. FABERGÉ. The initial name in the
Russian version corresponds to "K", in French - "C". This
difference can be simply explained. The French version of the name is written
as Charles. Consequently, the Latin initial "C" corresponds to
writing the name in French.
By the above, we can add
that the history of advertising at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries has many
examples of writing in Russian and French simultaneously or with the borrowing
of the French language for trade names, including those of jewelers. For
example, in the jeweler Joseph Marshak in Kiev (according to A.K. Snowman - one
of C. Faberge competitors) on the facade of the jewelry factory and the store
was a sign in French. Also, a jubilee album with the history of the Kiev firm
was in two languages. We can find French in the names of shops. Some market
participants accents the dignity of their goods or services by reference to the
Parisian origin - "goods from Paris", "a master from
Paris", etc.
Some readers asks regarding
a Nizhny Novgorod Fair, was in this Fair a store and what was the mode of
operation. This was also established by Valentin V. Skurlov in 1997. The sale
of jewelery by C. Faberge was a 40 days in year in room number 26, a place in
the Nizhny Novgorod Fair.
Advertising of C. Faberge
from 1900 reports that at an All-Russian Exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod in 1896
the company was awarded the right to display the State Emblem. But this fact
has already been established.
We have an interesting
information from the advertisement of the newspaper "Illustrated
Russia", which came out during the Russian emigration in Paris from 1924
to 1939. The advertisement of the successors of C. Faberge business has been
placed from 1927 to 1935. The text of the advertisement hasn't been changed
until 1935 and showed that Faberge & Co., which located on Saunier Street
(Saulnier - fr.), 23, performed orders, also was engaged in buying and selling,
as well as receiving diamonds, pearls, precious stones. In 1935 the
announcement was supplemented by the fact that the firm buys the products of
the firm K. Faberge.
Totally, we should note that
jewelry art is rather multi-faceted and in miniature reflects many kinds of
arts, such as elegant - painting, sculpture and architecture, and applied art.
Advertising of jewelry production was to
briefly and capacitively convey the features of each jewelry firm.
Manufacturers of jewelry and other products, being participants in trade
relations, took care of advertising, which, if you want to careful study, can be a source of valuable
information and reflect the interests of its era.
In this case, it's worth
noting an individual approach to advertising at the firm C. Faberge. In
scientific research V. Skurlov notes that after 1902, when a first and last
exhibition of Faberge's products took place in the house of von Derviz in St.
Petersburg, the Carl Faberge stopped issuing new Price Lists and reduced the
number of advertisements in print media. This is due to fact that, after the
World Exhibition in Paris in 1900 the firm received a large number of orders
and has no ability to produce them in time. In 1900, when he asked by a
journalist: "Probably, you received a lot of orders?" the Carl Faberge
answered the question: "Who will execute these orders? Where i can find
the masters?"
The second reason was the
firm has switched to individual service and didn't to publish sketches. The
Price List of 1899 have a following note - "The firm does not publish the
best projects in order to avoid falsification." Copyright protection as in
Russia and as in other countries was just started to form.
The same situation was in
the execution processes of orders for His Majesty's Cabinet. Franz Birbaum was
complained that other firms - Suppliers of the Highest Court took Faberge
projects without bearing the cost of maintaining the studio artists, performed
these projects cheaper, and won the orders of His Majesty's Cabinet.
The author is grateful to
Valentin V. Skurlov for scientific consultations.
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