Brief: The Houston Museum of Natural Science acquires stunning Fabergé pieces

Fabergé’s Ice Crystal Pendant is one of the 500 pieces by the design house on display at The Houston Museum of Natural Science. Image courtesy the Houston Museum of Natural Science.

Fabergé’s Ice Crystal Pendant is one of the 500 pieces by the design house on display at The Houston Museum of Natural Science. Image courtesy the Houston Museum of Natural Science.

 
BY KAREN AANONSEN

There are more than 150 new, jeweled reasons to visit the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Fabergé: From a Snowflake to an Iceberg expands upon the museum’s previous exhibition of treasures from the famed McFerrin Collection, bringing its display total to a remarkable 500 House of Fabergé pieces. Among the previously unseen: a lion’s head charm created by one of Fabergé’s first workmasters, Erik Kollin, as well as a hand-held fan belonging, formerly, to Britain’s Queen Victoria. Of course, dozens of personal artifacts once owned by the royal Romanov Family of Russia are also included. Because Fabergé was the jeweler of choice for the Russian aristocracy, it only makes sense that the museum’s latest showing explores the country’s history relating to the objects on view as much as it gives a historical overview of the House of Fabergé. The recently opened Fabergé: From a Snowflake to an Iceberg runs indefinitely.

—Oct. 20, 2014