19.3.09

Walking on Eggs (Aertsen)

Egg Dance, 1552
Pieter Aertsen
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam - Oil on panel, 84 x 172 cm

Egg dancing was a popular game played during the springtime folk festivities. First a chalk circle was drawn on the floor. Then, accompanied by bagpipe music, the player would use his feet to roll an egg out of a bowl, keeping it inside the circle, and turn the bowl upside down on top of the egg. All this had to be done without touching the flowers, leaves or anything else - and of course the egg had to remain whole. The first to succeed would win a prize: usually a basket of eggs. Here the basket is shown in the foreground.
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