DREHER CARVINGS

Overview

Engravers Gerd and Patrick Dreher are famous the world over for their
masterly animal figures cut from a single gemstone. In the early twentieth
century, grandfather, great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather all cut
gemstones for Fabergé – mostly agate but also ruby, obsidian, aquamarine,
citrine and rock crystal. Today they are still being meticulously made by
hand using traditional techniques. The realistic miniature forms of mice,
snails, toads, monkeys and hippos are designed by Patrick and Gerd Dreher in multilayered
and coloured gemstones so that, for example, the faces, palms of
the hand or soles of the feet shine in an iridescent red-brown agate while
the bodies are worked in the glossy deep black part of the stone. These
unique engravings are today some of the rarest examples of the highest
quality in craftsmanship and represent fascination of the highest cultural
degree in a world of increasing globalisation.

With additional short essays by: Anton Ananiev, Gerd Dreher, Galina Gabriel, Oleg Gerdt, Alan Hart, Mikhail Ovchinnikov, Raquel Alonso-Perez and Robert Weldon.