Family Office Elite Spring_16

ROTHSCHILD FAMILY OFFICE
Faberge Match Case
Faberge Rothschild
Faberge Rhodonite Box
FABERGE - ROTHSCHILD
The great banking family, the
Rothschilds, had an extensive
interest in the arts, and its members
were among the greatest collectors
of the nineteenth century,
furnishing their homes with a range
of historically significant art and
antiques. This penchant for the
arts necessitated a family office:
custodians of a growing collection
tasked with its maintenance
and development. In addition
to keeping track of the varied
collections, family office staff also
sought works of art to suggest
to the Rothschilds. These family
offices were also responsible for
managing household finances and
running the Rothschild homes.
The Rothschild collections
encompassed seventeenth and
eighteenth-century paintings
and eighteenth-century French
decorative art. The homes housing
these collections, consisting of
large estates in a range of styles
throughout Europe, left quite an
architectural legacy. One such
famous estate is Waddesdon
Manor, now owned by The National
Trust of the UK, where some of the
Rothschild collections remain on
view.
Renowned for their wealth and
prestige, the Rothschild family had
humble beginnings. The dynasty’s
founder, Mayer Amshel (1744-
1812), reached beyond the confines
of the Frankfurt Jewish ghetto
by establishing a coin business
catering to wealthy collectors from
the surrounding principalities. He
later opened a money exchange,
which became the first Rothschild
bank. Mayer Amshel’s five sons
would later disperse across Europe,
establishing an international
banking family.
The Rothschilds also had an eye
for Fabergé and, next, to the
British Royal family, were among
the Fabergé London shop’s most
important clients. All members of
the famous Dynasty patronized the
firm, and purchased the majority
of their pieces in London. The
Rothschild family developed a
close relationship with Henry
Bainbridge, the manager of the
London shop, resulting in custom
Fabergé pieces in accordance with
their tastes and family emblems.
Bainbridge intended them to be
gifts exchanged within the family,
but the Rothschilds presented the
majority of such items as gifts to
others.
One manner of customization was
enameling pieces in blue and yellow,
the Rothschild racing colors. One
such object is a gold and diamondset
match case, illustrated with its
Wigström Workshop drawing.
Not all Rothschild-owned Fabergé
pieces bear their iconography. The
family’s taste was not limited to
customized objects, as evidenced by
such works as a gold and rhodonite
box with a white and green enamel
border, a Louis XV style sedan
chair, a bonbonnière, and a portrait
brooch of Nathan Rothschild
47
FAMILY OFFICE ELITE MAGAZINE