With one of the largest collections of Russian jewelry art in the world, Fabergé Museum in St. Petersburg considers it its duty to study the topic from all angles and in a broad historical and cultural context. We hope to include in our conference contributions from art historians and critics, museum and archive professionals, collectors, and jewelers. In the period from the early 19th to the early 20th centuries, Russian jewelry art tread the path from the Empire style to Art Nouveau, saw the appearance of a constellation of brilliant jewelers both Russian and foreign, got itself noticed at World’s Fairs, contributed to the revival of old jewelry techniques, and began to be collected by both connoisseurs and museums.

Programme

November 9, 2017

9:30 Registration

10:00-11:00 Fabergé Museum Guided tour

11:00 Welcoming speech of Mikhail Ovchinnikov, First Deputy Director of Fabergé Museum in St. Petersburg

Section 1. The Semiotics of Jewellery Art

• Private Fabergé Objets d'Art and the Traditions of Imperial Representation, Thomas Steppan (Innsbruck, Austria) Professor, Art History Department, Innsbruck University
• Fabergé Easter Eggs as a Statement in the Context of the Two Russian Capitals’ Opposition, Irina Gurova (St. Petersburg, Russia) Independent Researcher

12:00 Section 2. The Iconography of Jewellery Art

• Pearls, Progress, and the Past: Negotiating Meaning in Empress Maria Alexandrovna’s Portrait by Winterhalter, John Webley (New York, USA) Research Assistant, Dahesh Museum of Art
• Pearls, Jewels, and Brilliants in Famous Portraits of the Romanov Family, Horst Becker (Wiesbaden, Germany) Art Historian, Independent Researcher
• Fashion and Jewellery in St. Petersburg around 1900. The Use of Aquamarine by Fabergé, His Parure for Grand Duchess Elisabeth, and the Discovery of a Commission from Fabergé for an Aquamarine Tiara in 1904, Alexander von Solodkoff (Hemmelmark / Kiel, Germany) Director, Mecklenburg-Schwerin Archives; Member of the Advisory Board, Fabergé Museum in St. Petersburg
• Numismatic Pieces in Fabergé’s Works, Elena Yarovaya (St. Petersburg, Russia) Ph. D., Senior Research Fellow, Numismatics Department, The State Hermitage Museum, Dmitry Krivoshey (Moscow, Russia) Independent Researcher

13:30–14:30 Break

14:30 Section 3. Style in 19^th- and Early 20^th-Century Russian Jewellery Art

• Renaissance Reminiscences in Russian and Western European Silver items, Vadim Prygov (Moscow, Russia) Expert in the Analytical Laboratory, Vernadsky State Geological Museum
• Bracelet from the Kertch Treasures Series in the Fabergé Museum Collection and the First Successes of the House of Fabergé, Alexey Pomigalov (St. Petersburg, Russia) Ph. D., Curator, Fabergé Museum in St. Petersburg, Karina Pronitcheva (St. Petersburg, Russia) Ph. D., Curator, Fabergé Museum in St. Petersburg
• Fabergé Designs in the Neo-Russian Style, Tatiana Chuzhanova (St. Petersburg, Russia) Assistant Professor, Applied Arts and Handicraft Department, St. Petersburg State University of Industrial Technologies and Design
• “Egyptian Style” in Late 19^th- and Early 20^th-Century Russian Jewellery, Elena Korneychuk (Moscow, Russia) Independent Researcher

16:00 End of the first conference day

November 10, 2017

10:00 Section 4. Sources on the History of Russian Jewellery Art of the 19^th and Early 20^th Century

• Crown Diamonds Inventory Books, Igor Zimin (St. Petersburg, Russia) Ph. D., Professor, Head of the History Department, Pavlov First State Medical University of St. Petersburg
• Alexander Tillander’s Business Reports as a Source for the History of Russian Jewellery, Ulla Tillander-Godenhielm (Helsinki, Finland) Ph. D., Member of the Advisory Board, Fabergé Museum in St. Petersburg
• Jewellery Apprenticeship in Russia in the Second Half of 19^th Century and Early 20^th Century. Pavel Ovchinnikov’s Manifesto, Sofia Grigoryeva (St. Petersburg, Russia) Ph. D., Head of Visitor Services, Fabergé Museum in St. Petersburg; Postgraduate Student, St. Petersburg State Institute of Culture

11:00 Section 5. Russian Jewellers and Their Contacts with Europe

• The House of Sazikov in the context of mid-19^th-Century European Jewellery Art, Evgeny Lukyanov (Moscow, Russia) Senior Research Fellow, The State Historical Museum
• The House of Bolin and European Jewellery Art of the Late 19^th and Early 20^th Century, Maria Osipova (St. Petersburg, Russia) Doctoral Student, Faculty of Arts, St. Petersburg University of the Humanities and Social Sciences; Fabergé Museum in St. Petersburg
• The European Stylistic Influence on Kievan Jewellers of the Late 19^th and Early 20^th Century, Natalia Sapfirova (Kiev, Ukraine) Doctoral Student, National Academy of Managerial Staff in Culture and Arts

12:30–13:30 Break

13:30 Section 6. Gifts and Offerings

• Russian Diplomacy and the Empire of Japan. Gifts from the Cabinet of His Imperial Majesty (1881–1917), Valentin Skurlov (St. Petersburg, Russia) Ph. D., Member of the Advisory Board, Fabergé Museum in St. Petersburg, Olga Krstich (St. Petersburg, Russia) Leading Research Fellow, Russian State Historical Archives
• Icons of the Early 20^th Century Given to the Imperial Family. On the Example of Icons in Silver Revetments in the State Russian Museum Collection, Irina Polyakova (St. Petersburg, Russia) Senior Research Fellow, The State Russian Museum

14:20 Section 7. Collections

• Traditional Tartar Jewellery from the Volga-Ural Region in the Collection of the Russian Museum of Ethnography: Current Presentation Practices, Elena Kolchina (St. Petersburg, Russia) Head of the Ethnography of the Volga and Ural Peoples Department, The Russian Museum of Ethnography, Lidia Loyko (St. Petersburg, Russia) Leading Research Fellow, The Russian Museum of Ethnography
• Fabergé Items from St. Petersburg Private Collections in the Mining Museum Collection, Natalia Borovkova (St. Petersburg, Russia) Associate Professor,Materials and Technology of Artworks Manufacturing Department, St. Petersburg Mining University, Senior Research Fellow, Mining Museum

15:00 End of the second conference day

November 11, 2017

Cultural program

10:30 St. Petersburg and the Fabergé Epoch Bus tour

The tour will proceed along the city’s famous streets and embankments: Nevsky Prospekt, Bolshaya Morskaya St., the Kryukov Canal and Moika River Embankments, and other thoroughfares, where guests will see buildings that were significant in the life of Carl Fabergé and other famous jewellers who worked in St. Petersburg in the late 19^th and early 20^th century. While riding along Nevsky Prospekt, you can admire its elegant architecture and see the places where the Hahn and Tillander dynasties worked before the Revolution. The tour will focus mainly on St. Petersburg’s Diamond Row, Bolshaya Morskaya St., where long ago one could find a multitude of jewellery shops, enough to satisfy any taste. There you can immerse yourself in the atmosphere of turn-of-the-century St. Petersburg and come into direct contact with the history of the jewellery firms of the era: Sazikov, Ovchinnikov, Butz, and Bolin, stone carver Denisov-Uralsky, and, of course, Fabergé.

12:00 Visit to the Diamond Room of the State Hermitage Museum

Opened to the public as part of the Imperial Hermitage in 1852, the Treasure Gallery is one of the largest museum collections of jewellery art in the world, and is comprised of two exhibitions: the Gold Room and the Diamond Room. The cultural program of the Fabergé Museum conference will include a visit to the Diamond Room, specifically the exhibits of ancient gold, items from European and Russian goldsmiths, jewellery from the collections of members of the Imperial family and private collections, religious articles, and diplomatic gifts to the Russian Emperor.