Fabergé

"'Fabergé is the greatest genius of our time', wrote the Dowager Empress of Russia when the Tsar Nicholas II presented her with one of the most dazzling of the Imperial Easter eggs. Carl Fabergé was the last court artist-jeweller in the old tradition, creating exquisite baubles for the crowned heads of Europe and the rich and fashionable in the golden days of the belle epoque. Fabergé worked in many styles from renaissance to rococo and from traditional Russian to classical French, bringing inspired craftsmanship and technical perfection to an enormous range of items. Since the late 1970s there have been several exciting discoveries of original material in archives, among them the sales ledgers of Fabergé's London branch and details about the commissioning of the first Imeprial Easter egg and all these are included in this up-to-date study." - book jacket.