E is for Easter Egg

I think this still keeps with the ‘flower’ theme I seem to be running with. This Easter egg is hand-painted, like you could not tell. I purchased it many years ago about 1980, before my son was born. Living in Germany allows you many opportunities to find wonders like this. It is either a swan or goose egg that has been emptied and then painted in a style the German’s call Baurnmalerie, or ‘farm painting’. The style was used on furniture and decorative panels at a time when color was at a premium and furniture was handmade.

I have many hand-painted German Easter eggs, but this is one of my ‘best’. It is not a chicken egg. I don’t remember if it was a swan or goose. I’m thinking swan. I have another large egg, not as large as this, that if I were to rate sizes, I would put swan larger than goose. This egg is decorated with daffodil, tulip and forget-me-not flowers. Interestingly forget-me-not in German is Verzeihen-Sie-mich-nicht which is a pretty direct translation.

I’ve put up Easter Egg Trees in the past, but with cats they seem to think the eggs are there for their pleasure and I have several that are cracked or only partially left (I just could not throw away the handwork and art they represent). I may put this one in the center of the dining room table for the season.