notes
by Diane Seely
photos by Mike Carrell
In the mid 1970s my husband Earl was on a business trip in San Diego. In a local antique shop he found an ivory egg, hand carved in Japan. It contained a moveable but unattached chicken. He was fascinated by the skill of the long-gone artist and bought the egg as a gift for me. I treasured the aged egg. Later, Earl was in London and once again went to antique shop for a gift for me. There it was, a smaller ivory egg, uniquely carved by a Japanese artisan long ago.
My first Asian eggs were ivory, but these four examples are actually blown eggs.
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We also spent
time travelling in the US and abroad. I began collecting eggs representative
of the indigenous semiprecious stones or native crafts of the places we
visited.
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The mirrored case at left displays some American eggs. The two on the top shelf are from the 1936 Chicago World's Fair. The lower shelves hold four antique pewter eggs. On the center shelf a newly hatched chick sits next to its empty shell on a stand inscribed "just peeked out." The bottom shelf holds a chocolate mold, and a hinged container inscribed "Easter 1895."
An Ostrich Egg holds a clock -- from Africa.
Many of the eggs have been given to me by my daughter Jennifer who is a world traveler/ adventurer. The Russian eggs were brought to me in 1991 when she returned from Moscow where fate placed her during the week that toppled communism. Eggs from Africa were secured during two African treks, safaris and climbing Kilimanjaro. On a third safari/trek I accompanied her and did my own purchasing of eggs. Some eggs are decorated with animal markings and other subjects, some are semi precious stones found on the continent. ....
Soviet Egg
Purchased in 1991
.Russian filigree which encases a wooden egg painted with the Madonna and Child
Reproductions of eggs created by Peter Carl Faberge
for
the Romanov Dynasty 1885-1917
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Left: African eggs with designs suggesting animal markings,
Center: Venetian Glass Eggs,
Right: An egg from England which opens to display scenes from
"A Visit from St. Nicholas."
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Left:
Jewled Eggs, Right: A modern hand-marbled ceramic
egg. Marbling is the ancient art of producing patterns by floating pigments
on the surface of a liquid, a printmaking technique which produces one-of-a-kind
designs.
English Wedgewood
White House Easter Egg
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