By Marilyn Bauer
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The Easter eggs crafted in precious metals and gemstones by Carl Faberge, crown jeweler to the Russian Imperial court, are probably the best known of this master's unrivaled work.

In addition to decorative items, furniture and fine jewelry, the workshops of Faberge carved miniature animals from the stone mined from the nearby Ural Mountains. This fantasy menagerie of miniatures including elephants, dogs, cats, bullfrogs, pigs, chameleons and monkeys has charmed clientele and viewers for more than a century.

The Columbus Museum of Art presents 100 of these works in The Faberge Menagerie: The Animal Creations of the Faberge Workshops through Jan. 4.

This is a superb exhibition for the entire family. Parents will wonder at the craftsmanship of this precious zoo, and children will love the idea of an identifiable animal carved from a stone.

The carvings, found also on the handles of parasols, bell pushes and heads of stickpins, are irresistible in their candid portrayals of animal behavior. They bark, scamper, sit up and lie down.

Grand elephants, a favorite of Faberge and his most important client, Czar Alexander II, wear caparisons covered in precious gems. Portraits of imperial pets also appear.

IF YOU GO

What: The Faberge Menagerie: The Animal Creations of the Faberge Workshops When: 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday and until 8:30 p.m. Thursday, through Jan. 4 Where: Columbus Museum of Art, 480 E. Broad St. Admission: $6, $4 seniors and students Information: (614) 221-6801, www.columbusmuseum.org

From the start, the Faberge brothers, Carl and Agathon, decided to concentrate on creating fantasy objects rather than jewelry, taking advantage of the deposits of malachite, lapis lazuli, jasper and porphyry in the Urals.

Initially the brothers concerned themselves with the eggs and the grand furnishings that went into the palaces, particularly the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg.

The exhibition includes many of these pieces: malachite tables, a large lapis lazuli urn, a flower basin in gilded bronze, amethyst, agate jasper and petrified wood.

There are three stunning examples of the Imperial Easter eggs, including an orange tree egg given by Czar Nicholas II to his mother, Dowager Empress Marie Fedorovna. Leaves open to reveal a golden nightingale when a ruby fruit is pressed. "The Gatchina Palace Egg" - made from enamel, pearls, diamonds and rock crystal - opens to reveal a miniature replica of the palace brilliantly executed in gold.

The first animal carving was done in 1890 and is said to have been inspired by Faberge's collection of 500 netsukes.

Netsukes, intricately carved animals used as toggles in traditional Japanese dress, peaked in popularity during the 19th century. A class of artists, netsuke-shi, eventually emerged and continued to craft the work long after Western dress was accepted. Faberge must have seen in these little animals, many portrayed with comical characteristics or exaggerations, a technical excellence akin to his own.

E-mail mbauer@enquirer.com