#Exhibit of the Month

In the dazzling world of precious stones and noble metals, certain jewelers stand out, mastering the art of harmonizing understated elegance with absolute refinement, genius with design, and sophistication with eternal, unforgettable splendor.
The name Fabergé, emblematic of originality and synonymous with the creations of a legendary house, has left an indelible mark on the history of jewelry and decorative arts. Renowned for uniting jewelry, artistic design, and utility into objets de luxe and objets de fantaisie, Fabergé's creations have always captivated with their exquisite craftsmanship. Fashioned from gold, silver, enamel, and precious stones, the pieces produced in Fabergé's workshops testify to exceptional virtuosity, marked by meticulous attention to detail and perfect material harmony. Even works inspired by earlier stylistic vocabularies bear the unmistakable mark of originality.

The National Museum of History of Moldova treasures a spectacular ladle, crafted in Fabergé's workshops in the late 19th century.
The Fabergé ladle is a curious blend of the "Russian style" and the "modern style." Made of solid silver, it features a circular, gold-plated bowl. Its raised, stylized handle (hook-shaped) is adorned with vegetal motifs, triple rings, and silver pearls. The rim is embellished with a wide band composed of rectangular medallions, decorated with spiral loops and stylized scales arranged alternately. The bowl is supported by four hemispherical feet. At the center, engraved inscriptions read: Eugenie von Platonow/St. Petersburg and ТОРГОВЫЙ ДОМЪ „АЛЕКСАНДРЪ"/1863/15/10/1913.
Research suggests that this ladle was commissioned by Alexander Trauberg, a first-guild merchant and owner of the "АЛЕКСАНДРЪ" Trading House located at Nevsky Boulevard 11, St. Petersburg. It was likely created to mark the 50th anniversary of his business in 1913.
The hallmark stamped on the base-Fabergé's K. ФАБЕРЖЕ logo surmounted by the Russian Empire's coat of arms, alongside the female profile in a kokoshnik within an oval frame, accompanied by the Greek letter Δ (delta) and the silver purity standard "88"-confirms that the piece was produced by Fabergé's Moscow branch.
The hypnotic charm of Fabergé's creations defined the aesthetic ideals of an era, embodying exuberance and refinement, crafted by a jeweler to kings and a king among jewelers.

Virtual Tour

January 2023

Mirror from Nikolskoe

In the culture of many peoples from ancient times (and to the present day), mirrors have been given a special role in ritual practice, especially funerary ones. For many communities, mirrors, like metal objects in general, served to protect against evil spirits. Mirrors had a dual purpose - a utilitarian one, as a toilet item, and ritual, as an attribute of a magical rite. The latter is explained by the fact that in the ideas of many peoples the soul of a person is connected to his reflection in a mirror or water. Being external to man, the "soul-reflection" is subject to various dangers.

Obviously, belief in the magical possibilities of mirrors is one of the reasons why the owners kept them closed in wooden, cloth, felt or leather cases and pouches. An expensive mirror was placed in the grave along with the deceased for fear that the soul of a living person reflected in it could be carried away by the spirit of the person passed away. On the other hand, to this day, many nations have a tradition of hanging all the mirrors if there is a dead person in the house, so as not to multiply death.

Metal mirrors are quite rare at the dawn of Scythian history, but over time, they were widely distributed in the Classical time or "Herodotus' Scythia" of the 5th-4th centuries BC. Then the mirror became one of the most important toilet items in Scythian burials. In the west of the Pontic steppes, at least 40 mirrors are known, made in Scythian or Greek workshops, 12 of them are stored in the collection of the National Museum of the History of Moldova.

One of the metal mirrors of Greek work was found on the left bank of the Dniester, near the Nikolskoe village, in the burial mound 14. It was found in a burial near a skull, and in addition to a mirror, 114 arrowheads and six golden fish-shaped plaques. The mirror was cast in bronze along with the handle. The mirror diameter is 16.5 cm, handle length with a round extension is 11.5 cm.

Although burial 1 of kurgan 14 was identified as male, 18-20 years old, mirrors are a marker of exclusively female burials. Such bronze mirrors with side handles appear in the middle of the 5th century BC but were most massively distributed during the last quarter of the 5th - the first half of the 4th century BC.

#Exhibit of the Month

Fabergé Ladle

January 2023

Mirror from Nikolskoe

#Exhibit of the Month