Rejoice Icons: Romanian Icon-Eggs

Romanian Icon-Eggs

Most people are familiar with the Eastern European art of egg decorating called Pysanky. Probably the most familiar are those of the Ukrainian people. The name comes from the verb to write because a stylus is used to write with wax on the egg shell. After the entire design is finished, the egg, which now has a great deal of wax on it, is held to the side of a candle flame and the wax is melted. Hens’ eggs are mostly used for pysanky and the work is known for its intricacy, delicacy, and brilliant colors.

On a visit to Renninger’s Flea and Antique Market in Mt. Dora, FL I chanced on a shop with the intriguing title of “Ghost Orchid”. No Orchids. But tucked among mostly Romanian imported wooden items were a couple of icons in the traditional style, and then some really beautiful icons painted inside duck eggs.

Although the duck egg icons I found began with the pysanky process of drawing the raw egg through the hole, the method and materials used were very different. First, tweezers were used to break away about 1/3 of the shell, leaving a jagged cut. A festal or feast day icon was then painted inside the egg shell. The outside of the egg shell was painted with gold and edged with an intricate design created by the pysanky method of hot wax, using beads of colored wax to form a geometric design. The jagged edges were painted as mountain peaks, in the traditional style of Byzantine icons. The impression was of looking into a cave where a wondrous thing was happening.

These two icons depict the Orthodox feast days The Descent into Hades and The Transfiguration. For an idea of the size of the duck eggs, they are sitting in a lowly shot glass.

The owner of the shop told me that I had bought the last four icon eggs she had and she suspected she would not get more. For a small dealer, the fees upon costly fees, delays in shipment, and general aggravation of international importing were not worth it. I was unhappy with this because I had already had a number of requests from friends to buy one for them. If you’re wondering about price, they were $30 each. Imagine how much the iconographer back in Romania got for his art!

This wonderful “find” was proof to me, again, that natural surfaces such as unfinished wood, stone, slate, and many more, including this most elemental object, an egg, can be used to great advantage in iconography.

He is in all places and fills all things.

Icon of the Descent into Hades