The egg of the ostrich (genus Struthio ) is the largest of any living bird (being exceeded in size by those of the extinct elephant bird genus Aepyornis ). The shell has a long history of use by humans as a container and for decorative artwork, including beads . The eggs are not commonly eaten.
16-585: Schatzkammer , a German word which means "treasury" or "treasure chamber", is a term sometimes used in English for the collection of treasures, especially objets d’art in precious metals and jewels, of a ruler or other collector which are kept in a secure room and often found in the basement of a palace or castle. It also often included the wider types of object typical of the Renaissance cabinet of curiosities . A very small but evocative Renaissance room in
32-540: A higher standard of refined manufacture and finish; the classification usually excludes objects made for realising a practical function. As works of art, objets de vertu reflect the rarified aesthetic and conspicuous consumption characteristic of an aristocratic court — of the late-medieval Burgundian dukes , the Mughal emperors , or Ming China — such as the Lycurgus Cup , which is a cage cup made of Roman glass ;
48-404: A simple pit, 30 to 60 cm (12–24 in) deep and 3 m (9.8 ft) wide, scraped in the ground by the male. The dominant female lays her eggs first, and when it is time to cover them for incubation she discards extra eggs from the weaker females, leaving about 20 in most cases. A female common ostrich can distinguish her own eggs from the others in a communal nest. Ostrich eggs are
64-475: A tower at Lacock Abbey was designed for keeping and viewing the treasures of the newly rich owner. The term is normally used of the collections of European rulers or very wealthy families. Well-known examples are: Church establishments also had treasuries where similar objects were kept, which are often now open as museums. Especially important and largely intact examples are: Examples outside Western Europe include: Objet d%27art In art history ,
80-784: Is disputed. They may symbolize the Virgin Birth , since according to Job 39:13–17 the ostrich lays its eggs in the sand and forgets, so they are hatched by the sun alone. This significance may lie behind the egg suspended above the Virgin Mary in Piero della Francesca 's Brera Madonna painting. In 2020, studies of decorated ostrich eggs in the British Museum showed that the methods by which they had been sourced, produced and traded were more complicated than had previously been imagined. Isotope analysis showed that eggs from
96-533: The Byzantine agate "Rubens vase"; the Roman glass " Portland Vase ", and onyx and chalcedony cameo carvings , whilst the pre–World War I production of objets d'art featured Fabergé eggs made of precious metals and decorated with gemstones . A comparable term that appears in 18th- and 19th-century French sale catalogs, though now less used, is objets de curiosité , "objects of curiosity", now devolved into
112-477: The French term objet d'art ( / ˌ ɒ b ʒ eɪ ˈ d ɑːr / ; French pronunciation: [ɔbʒɛ daʁ] ) describes an ornamental work of art , and the term objets d’art describes a range of works of art, usually small and three-dimensional, made of high-quality materials, and a finely-rendered finish that emphasises the aesthetics of the artefact. Artists create and produce objets d’art in
128-400: The females by day and by the males by night. This uses the coloration of the two sexes to escape detection of the nest, as the drab female blends in with the sand, while the black male is nearly undetectable in the night. The incubation period is 35 to 45 days, which is rather short compared to other ratites . This is believed to be the case due to the high rate of predation. Typically,
144-499: The fields of the decorative arts and metalwork , porcelain and vitreous enamel ; figurines , plaquettes , and engraved gems ; ivory carvings and semi-precious hardstone carvings ; tapestries , antiques , and antiquities ; and books with fine bookbinding . The National Maritime Museum , Greenwich , London, describes their accumulated artworks as a: "collection of objets d’art [which] comprises over 800 objects. These are mostly small, decorative art items that fall outside
160-622: The fourth millennium BC and in the Royal Cemetery at Ur from the third millennium. From the first millennium in the ancient Punic civilization , there are many examples of ostrich eggs decorated with painted geometric designs for use as cups and bowls. These have been found in Carthage , Sardinia , Sicily , the Iberian Peninsula and Ibiza . The tradition of using ostrich eggs as containers (sometimes decorated) continues to
176-418: The largest of all eggs, though they are actually the smallest eggs relative to the size of the adult bird — on average they are 15 cm (5.9 in) long, 13 cm (5.1 in) wide, and weigh 1.4 kilograms (3.1 lb), over 20 times the weight of a chicken 's egg and only 1 to 4% the size of the female. They are glossy cream-colored, with thick shells marked by small pits. The eggs are incubated by
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#1732765562273192-484: The less-valued curio . Elaborate late Renaissance display pieces in silver that incorporate organic elements such as ostrich eggs , nuts of the coco de mer and sea-shells are grouped in a volume, published in 1991, as "The Curiousities" in the catalogues of the Waddesdon Bequest at the British Museum . Ostrich eggs The female common ostrich lays her fertilized eggs in a single communal nest,
208-414: The male defends the hatchlings and teaches them to feed, although males and females cooperate in rearing chicks. Fewer than 10% of nests survive the 9 week period of laying and incubation, and of the surviving chicks, only 15% of those survive to 1 year of age. A possible origin for the myth that ostriches bury their heads in sand to avoid danger lies with the fact that ostriches keep their eggs in holes in
224-744: The present among the San people . In the Middle Ages , ostrich eggs from Ethiopia were exported through the port of Bāḍiʿ on the Red Sea . During the Renaissance in Europe (15th–16th centuries AD), ostrich eggs were mounted in silver as goblets for display in cabinets of curiosities . Decorated eggs continue to be widely displayed in Eastern Orthodox churches, although their symbolism
240-552: The sand instead of nests, and must rotate them using their beaks during incubation; digging the hole, placing the eggs, and rotating them might each be mistaken for an attempt to bury their heads in the sand. In Thebes, Egypt , the tomb of Haremhab, dating to approximately 1420 BC, shows a depiction of a man carrying bowls of ostrich eggs and other large eggs, presumably those of the pelican , as offerings. Ostrich eggshells were used as containers in North Africa as early as
256-509: The scope of the Museum’s ceramic, plate, textiles and glass collections." The artwork collection also includes metal curtain ties, a lacquered papier-maché tray, tobacco boxes, cigarette cases , découpage (cut-paper items), portrait miniatures , a gilt-brass clock finial, plaques, statuettes, plaquettes, a horse brass , a metal pipe tamper, a small glass painting , et cetera. The objet de vertu , wherein vertu suggests rich materials and
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