The tradition of giving decorated eggs (painted, carved, chiseled..) to celebrate Easter dates back centuries.
In all ages and cultures, the egg has taken on important meanings. Its shape, its perfection, but expecially its “creative” nature ” have made it a symbol of life, rebirth, and fertility.
The Greeks, the Chinese and the Persians were used to exchanging them to celebrate the beginning of Spring, the season when Nature comes back to life after the cold winter. For the same reason, the Egyptians were giving eggs for the Spring equinox, which marked for them the start of a new year.
With the advent of Christianity, the Egg became a symbol of the Resurrection of Christ, therefore of the feast of Easter itself.
Donating a painted egg therefore means wishing prosperity, wealth, luck and happiness.
Already in the thirteenth century, King Edward I of England commissioned 450 gold-plated eggs as Easter gifts. But the greatest admirers of decorated Easter eggs were the Czar of Russia. Between the ‘700 and early ‘900 they commissioned hundreds of precious eggs, among which stand the artworks of the goldsmith Peter Carl Faberge.
The ceramic hand-painted eggs of La Vecchia Faenza – Laura Silvagni, are a homage to this ancient tradition. As in the ancient times, they are the result of skillful manual art, and still carry with them the hope of a prosperous and happy future.
