Overview

A La Vieille Russie, a New York

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 antiques

Antiques

An antique is an old collectible item. It is collected or desirable because of its age , beauty, rarity, condition, utility, personal emotional connection, and/or other unique features...

 gallery specializing in antique jewelry and Russian

Russian culture

Russian culture is associated with the country of Russia and, sometimes, specifically with ethnic Russians. It has a rich history and can boast a long tradition of excellence in every aspect of the arts, especially when it comes to literature and philosophy, classical music and ballet, architecture...

 works of art, is world-renowned for its collection of artworks by Carl Fabergé

Fabergé

Fabergé may refer to:*House of Fabergé, a Russian jewelry firm founded by Gustav Faberge in 1842*Fabergé workmaster, goldsmiths who produced jewelry for the House of Fabergé*Fabergé eggs, the most famous works of the House of Faberge...

, created for members of the Romanov

Romanov

The House of Romanov was the second and last imperial dynasty to rule over Russia, reigning from 1613 until the February Revolution abolished the crown in 1917...

 court and other wealthy patrons in late 19th century Russia. In the over one hundred and fifty years since its establishment, A La Vieille Russie has bought and sold countless pieces of Fabergé, including many of the Imperial Easter Eggs

Fabergé egg

A Fabergé egg is any one of the thousands of jeweled eggs made by the House of Fabergé from 1885 to 1917. Most were miniature eggs that were popular gifts at Eastertide...

 and other objets de vertu. Works from the gallery are loaned to museums around the world and exhibited regularly.

History

A La Vieille Russie, a family enterprise since its founding in Kiev in 1851, left the turmoil of the Revolution and was re-established in Paris around 1920 by Jacques Zolotnitsky, the grandson of the founder, with his nephew Léon Grinberg, and later by Alexander Schaffer in America.
Still a multi-generational family business, under the direction of brothers, Messrs. Paul and Peter L. Schaffer, and Paul's son, Dr. Mark A. Schaffer, A La Vieille Russie continues the tradition of dealing in fine art and antiques. In its original location in Kiev, goldsmith and jeweler Carl Fabergé

Fabergé

Fabergé may refer to:*House of Fabergé, a Russian jewelry firm founded by Gustav Faberge in 1842*Fabergé workmaster, goldsmiths who produced jewelry for the House of Fabergé*Fabergé eggs, the most famous works of the House of Faberge...

, whose shop was nearby, was himself a client.

The gallery moved to Paris in the 1920’s, where clients included Queen Marie of Romania, Grand Duchesses Xenia and Olga

Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia

Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia was a daughter of Tsar Alexander III of Russia and the elder of Tsar Nicholas II two sisters. She married her cousin Grand Duke Alexander Mikailovich of Russia, with whom she had seven children....

, sisters of Nicholas II, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor

Duke of Windsor

The title Duke of Windsor was created in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1937 for Prince Edward, the former King Edward VIII, following his abdication in December 1936. The dukedom takes its name from the town where Windsor Castle, a residence of English monarchs since the Norman Conquest, is...

, King Farouk and others, and the shop became a focal point for émigré aristocracy and intellectual activity.

With the onset of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, the gallery relocated from Paris to New York. Initially, it was one of the first tenants at Rockefeller Center

Rockefeller Center

Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commercial buildings covering between 48th and 51st streets in New York City, United States. Built by the Rockefeller family, it is located in the center of Midtown Manhattan, spanning the area between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue. It was declared a National...

 in 1934, then moved to another Fifth Avenue location in 1941, and finally to its present location in 1961 on New York’s famed Fifth Avenue, at 59th Street opposite the south entrance of Central Park

Central Park

Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...

.
In America, A La Vieille Russie quickly established itself as experts in Fabergé and Russian Imperial treasures and continues so today. It helped form all the major American Fabergé collections, like the Forbes Magazine Collection

Malcolm Forbes

Malcolm Stevenson Forbes was publisher of Forbes magazine, founded by his father B. C. Forbes and today run by his son Steve Forbes.-Life and career:...

, many of which are now in museums such as the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

The Virginia Museum of Fine arts, or VMFA, is an art museum in Richmond, Virginia, in the United States, which opened in 1936.The museum is owned and operated by the Commonwealth of Virginia, while private donations, endowments, and funds are used for the support of specific programs and all...

 and the Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland Museum of Art

The Cleveland Museum of Art is an art museum situated in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on Cleveland's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian art, the museum houses a diverse permanent collection of more than 43,000...

.

A La Vieille Russie is recognized today as international experts on the works of Fabergé. The gallery also specializes in European and American antique jewelry, 18th-century European gold snuffboxes, and antique Russian decorative arts, including silver, enamel, and porcelain

Imperial Porcelain Factory

The Imperial Porcelain Factory , is a producer of fine, handpainted ceramic products in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It was established by Dmitry Ivanovich Vinogradov in the town of Oranienbaum in 1744...

, as well as Russian paintings, icons

Russian icons

The use and making of icons entered Kievan Rus' following its conversion to Orthodox Christianity in 988 AD. As a general rule, these icons strictly followed models and formulas hallowed by Byzantine art, led from the capital in Constantinople...

, and furniture.

The gallery maintains a strong exhibition schedule, both as exhibitors and lenders. It exhibits annually at TEFAF Maastricht in the Netherlands, New York's Winter Antiques Show, Masterpiece in London, and the New York International Fine Art and Antique Dealers Show.

Seminal Exhibitions at A La Vieille Russie

Fabergé. 1949.

Antique Automatons. 1950.

Russian Icons. 1962.

The Art of the Goldsmith and the Jeweler. 1968.

Fabergé. 1983.

An Imperial Fascination: Porcelain. Dining with the Czars. Peterhof. 1991.

Alexandre Iacovleff – Paintings and Drawings. 1993.

Golden Years of Fabergé. Drawings and Objects from the Wigström Workshop. 2000.

External links

CINOA (Confédération Internationale des Négociants en Oeuvres d'Art, or International Confederation of Traders in Works of Art)

Masterpiece Fair London

TEFAF Maastricht - The World's Leading Art and Antiques Fair

International Fine Art and Antique Dealers Show

Winter Antiques Show

The National Antique and Art Dealers Association of America

The Art and Antique Dealers League of America

Antiques Roadshow