Christmas Ostrich Egg

A painted ostrich egg in the Russian tradition, with Father Christmas rendered as a true portrait of the man it was commissioned to honour.

This egg was painted in a style drawn from several traditional Russian sources. The Father Christmas figure is not a generic type but a genuine portrait: the children of the subject commissioned the egg as a gift for their mother.

The egg is painted in oil paint and enamel on a prepared ostrich egg, with three vignettes: the portrait face, a winter landscape with troika, a standing figure in the white coat of the Russian Father Christmas, each separated by a decorative floral panel. Each view is self-contained but reads as part of a continuous composition as the egg turns in the hand. The custom-made stand bears the initials of each of the children who commissioned it.