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Article: The meaningless artistry of Carl Faberge.
- Article from:
- Contemporary Review
- Article date:
- March 1, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 Contemporary Review Company Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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WHEN Russia was still repressively Communist it required special dispensation to visit a locked room in the Hermitage Museum. Concealed there were treasures from an extravagant past considered unacceptably decadent. I recall particularly Catherine the Great's saddle-cloth, edged entirely with swags of rose diamonds. Carl Faberge's works had been parked in the Kremlin vastnesses merely labelled 'Russian'.
Now, after seventy years, all is changed. Last June three hundred and fifty Faberge artefacts were exhibited in the Winter Palace and 200,000 astonished Russians paid to see the luxurious minutiae of a vanished era. They can be seen at the Victoria & Albert Museum, ...