The painted ostrich egg is starting to make its place on the tables of Romanians who want to impress their guests at the Easter table. And the price is just right: from a few hundred lei to over 1,000 euros, depending on the model chosen.
Normally, an ostrich egg costs around 100 lei, if it is painted it reaches 300-400 lei, and even more depending on the complexity of the motifs chosen and the work done.
The new sensation is the ostrich egg with gold or silver leaf, whose price can reach several hundred euros or even 1200 euros.
One of the best-known artists who makes such unique painted eggs is Mariana Andone Rotaru, who uses her own technique to reproduce elements from Romanian culture and traditions. To color a single egg, the artist works at least 70 hours, but the result is worth it.
The most recent works of Mariana Andone Rotaru could be admired at the Brukenthal National Museum, where at the end of April the exhibition “In Search of the Lost Paradise” was held, where icons on ostrich eggs, stamped with gold and silver leaf, were presented .
Creative work
And don’t think that it’s really that simple to paint an ostrich egg. First, the right egg was carefully selected and the drawing was made with melted beeswax using a traditional pen.
In most cases, the ovoid circumference was divided into two surfaces, the iconographic theme being framed on one of them.
“The decoration on the opposite side of the icon is a unique creation, harmoniously developed in its own compositions, starting from the elements in the field of the represented fountain. The gilded elements were rendered with 24k gold leaf and silver leaf”, specified the organizers of the exhibition in Sibiu.
One of the most famous pieces from Mariana Andone Rotaru’s collection is an ostrich egg inspired by the Romanian ia painted by Henri Matisse in 1940, the elements from the famous painting being reproduced with great skill.
Mariana Andone Rotaru was born in the Republic of Moldova and is part of the first generation of Bessarabian students who came to study in Romania.
