An 'Art Chamber' object for Easter

What does an egg and tobacco have to do with each other?

For the coming Easter holidays, the museum has selected an appropriate object that is proudly presented: an egg – and not just any egg. A tobacco jar is shaped like an egg and made from an egg with a total height of 22 cm. It is an ostrich egg encased in a silver frame with a green enamel button.

Kunstkammer object

This is a 'Kunstkammer object'. Rudolf II, King of Hungary and Bohemia, Emperor of the Roman Empire, laid the foundation for the Kunstkammer in the 16th century: a collection of rarities such as exotic shells and very artfully made objects made of silver or turned ivory. Rudolf invited artists such as Adam van Vianen, Roelant Savereij and Adriaan de Vries, known from the Rijksmuseum, to his Kunstkammer. Our 'Easter egg' would fit in perfectly.

However, the creator of this egg lives four hundred years later. Silversmith Jurriën Schiff so artfully mounted the egg in 1997 as an entry in a competition for a modern silver tobacco jar by a Dutch maker. This pot is both modern and anchored in a long tradition. That is why it certainly deserves a place in the museum.