Gustav Fabergé

Baltic German jeweller, goldsmith, silversmith. Father of Peter Carl Fabergé, uncle of Carl Wenig. Descended from a French Huguenot called Jean-Baptiste Fabry (derived from the Latin word faber, meaning “artisan” or “maker”) and his wife Suzanne Foulon from the commune of La Bouteille in the department of Aisne in Picardy (mid-17th century). Following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685), their son Daniel Jean Fabry (1685–1723) emigrated to Rossow in Prussia (1700s), where he married countrywoman Élisabeth Tourbier (1684–1753) from the neighbouring commune of Jeancourt (1713). Their son Jean Fabry (1720–1775) married a farmer’s daughter called Marie Leuran (1731–1806) in Fahrenwalde (1756) and moved to Schwedt am Oder (1760s), where the family changed its name to Favry (1769). Their son Pierre Favry (1768–1858) moved to the Baltic province of Livonia (1794), where he married a Silesian merchant’s daughter called Maria Louisa Elsner (1776–1855) in Halliste (1796) and registered as a master joiner in Pärnu under the names of Peter Fabrier (1796) and Peter Faberg (1808). Their son Gustav was born in Pärnu (1814), where he adopted the surname of Faberge (1828). Apprenticed to Andreas Ferdinand Spiegel in St Petersburg and worked for Johann Wilhelm Keibel (1830s). Qualified as a master (1841) and opened a workshop under the name of Fabergé in a cellar at 11 Bolshaya Morskaya Street (1842). Married a Swedish painter’s daughter called Charlotte Jungstedt (1842), who gave birth to children Alexandrine Karolina (1844), Peter Carl (1846), Wilhelmine Charlotte (1848), Agathe Emilie (1853) and Agathon (1862). Retired with his family to Dresden (1860), leaving the business in the hands of his Finnish partner Hiskias Pendin (1860–82) and eldest son Peter Carl Fabergé (1882–1918). Died in Dresden (1894) and cremated in Gotha (1894).