In 2010, Pierre-Jean Texier, an archaeology professor at Universite Bordeaux in France, discovered fragments of ostrich eggs in South Africa believed to date back 55,000 to 65,000 years, all the way to the late Paleolithic Era. They had traces of artificially engraved patterns. They’re the world’s oldest artifacts for egg decoration. It’s difficult to figure out what those Paleolithic people intended with their engravings, for there was no boundary between art and faith back then. Perhaps those curves gave them some comfort. Maybe the birth of a new life gave people a sense of wonder. Either way, humans have been decorating bird eggs since prehistoric times. And since chickens came into the picture some 7,000 years ago, chicken eggs emerged as the popular object for decoration and craft.
The ancient Jews boiled eggs on Passover. In the Persian Empire, they painted eggs to celebrate the new year. Passover is a Jewish celebration of the liberation from the Egyptian Pharaoh. It falls on Jan. 14 on the Jewish calendar. Written in Chinese characters, Passover means climbing and crossing over, and falls around March or April on our calendar. The Passover egg is a symbol of change: from confinement to freedom, from winter to spring, and from death to life. It was no different than the New Year’s eggs in Persia.

Meanwhile, Constantine the Great built a new fortress by the shore in Turkey. He called it the new Rome for Constantine, and it came to be known as Constantinople. It became the new capital of the empire, while Rome, the old capital, remained the home of the Pope. The Roman Empire, now divided east and west, continue to grow as the two parts work together and kept each other in check. Just as the two Empires went their separate ways, Christianity also began to branch out. The year 1054 saw the Great Schism. The Western Roman Empire had become Catholic, while the Eastern Roman Empire went the route of Eastern Orthodox. And they were at odds against each other. But within the great framework of Christianity, they were on the same page. The Eastern Roman Empire took over Central and Eastern Europe, plus Russia, all of which came under the umbrella of Eastern Orthodox. But in 1453, Constantinople was brought down by the mighty Ottoman Empire. The city was reborn as Istanbul, capital of the Islamic Ottoman Empire. Around this time, a new power was on the rise in the north. The principality of Moscow, which had been in Mongolia’s control, was picking up steam by integrating with its surrounding regions. In 1469, Ivan III married the niece of the last Eastern Roman emperor, and claimed that he was the heir to the Eastern Orthodox traditions. This was his declaration that Russia was ready to move in from the periphery and toward the center of the world. In 1480, Ivan III defeated the Kipchak Khanate. Around this time, Ivan III began referring to himself as ‘Tsar,’ the Slavic word for Caesar or Czar. It also meant he saw himself as the heir to the Roman Empire.

Greece and Rome lay the foundation for the Western Civilization. But whether it’s Napoleon or Hitler, Europeans claimed their connections to the Roman Empire whenever they attained power. Most of those claims were dismissed, and there were quite a bit of those in the 15th-16th century Russia. Europeans didn’t see Russia, barely out of the Mongolian control, as heir to Rome. But Russia began to change following the Peter the Great’s revolution. By beating Napoleon, who had the entire Europe under his feet, Russia emerged as the leader of the modern revolution. In 1853, Russia defeated the Ottoman Empire in the ocean, and instilled fears into Britain and France in the process. Just as America developed its West and accumulated considerable resources, Russia expanded to Siberia to keep collecting assets. In order to be recognized as the center of the Christian civilization and European civilization, Russia needed more than its military power and economic clout. Russia needed something to be proud of in its culture and religion. The Russian Empire made luxurious Lomonosov porcelain and fur, and also developed a dining culture that served appetizer, main dish and dessert (the full-course meal came from Russia, not France). The empire also spent money on music and ballet, while building cathedrals decorated with icons. Russia desperately tried to take the main stage in Europe, being flamboyant and reverential along the way.

The jeweler was Peter Carl Faberge. He was the descendent of immigrants who had left France to the Russian-ruled Estonia to escape the French Wars of Religion. His father opened the jewelry company House of Faberge in the Russian Empire capital of St. Petersburg, and Peter Carl took over the family business and followed his old man’s footsteps as goldsmith. In 1882, Peter Carl’s works were a sensation at the Pan-Russian Exhibition in Moscow. Faberge was awarded a gold medal and the Russian Imperial Order of Saint. Stanislas. And pleased with Faberge’s egg, the Tsar assigned him the title Goldsmith by Special Appointment to the Imperial crown. The House of Faberge became the top jewelry brand in Russia. To this day, Faberge is considered among the world’s top jewelers, alongside Cartier, Bulgari and Tiffany.
Starting in 1885, the House of Faberge began producing Easter eggs every year. And from 1887 and on, Faberge didn’t even have to report to the Tsar before designing his egg. The level of trust in eggs’ quality was such that Faberge was free to build eggs however he pleased. In 1894, Alexander III passed away and his son, Nicholas II, took over as the new Tsar. He also wanted Faberge’s egg, and not just one each year, either. Nicholas II wanted one each for his mother and for his wife. Eggs gradually became more elaborate. Faberge even installed some device inside one egg. The 1900 egg called the ‘Cockerel Egg’ had a small cockerel to come out and sing at the top of each hour.

Faberge made 10 eggs from 1885 to 1894. Then from 1895 to 1916, there were two eggs each year, except for 1904 and 1905, when no eggs were made due to the Russo-Japanese War. It meant there were 40 Faberge eggs during that 22-year period, for a total of 50 eggs. Of those, 10 are being preserved at the Faberge Museum in St. Petersburg, while three ended up with British queen. The renowned publishing family Forbes purchased nine Faberge eggs through auctions. But they’re rumored to have sold off some or the entire collection to a Russian oil magnate due to some financial crunch. In 2014, one Faberge egg was found at an American Midwest flea market. So far, 43 eggs have been located, and they’re each valued at over 25 billion won on average. These eggs have even been featured in films. In “Ocean’s Twelve,” George Clooney and Vincent Cassel duel for the title as the best thief in the world, with whoever steals the Faberge Imperial Coronation Egg earning that designation.
Considering their small size, Faberge eggs are the most expensive collectibles in the world. It’s a fun exercise to follow how the ancient traditions of decorating bird’s eggs transformed in the modern era. St. Petersburg is home to the world’s most precious, splendid and expensive eggs. If you miss Faberge’s eggs while doing a tour of museums in St. Petersburg, then you’ll be skipping over one of the most important parts of Western Christian art history. And you never know just where you’ll run into one of the seven missing eggs.