An Art Treasure

While searching for a few pieces of artwork in my home (to take photographs for an assignment) I came across a carved emu egg that had been given to me quite a few years ago.
Carving emu eggs is not an easy thing to do in spite of the fact that the eggs are really very thick and strong. When the emu eggs are fresh they are a vivid emerald green but as time goes by they darken and we have an egg that is very old that is now gray. All the colour has gone from it.
This photo shows the two sides of my carved egg. It was carved by an aboriginal woman in 1980 and given to me as a gift by a young man that Colin and I took in as an orphaned 14 year old only days after we got married. The gift was given when he was 26, married and with two little girls!

The egg has already lost its green look, it has been placed on a green cloth deliberately to show this colour loss.  Click on the photo to enlarge it.
I hope you can see why I class it as an artwork.
AJ