Gary,
Now that's a fantastic barn owl you've found old friend! Without doubt one of the best unpainted owl sculptures I've ever seen, and you know how many I've looked at over the past several years ...
Superb composition, pose and detail to this fine unit, the artist hit a 'bases-loaded, out-of-the-park home run' with this fine work. This bird of prey ranks right up there with Wilhelm Neuh�user's Waldohreule for Allach and Max Esser's owl sculptures for Meissen - now that's some good company to be in.
Looks like he's got a vole in his grasp, as a rat's tail would be slightly longer. I'm sure the artist who fashioned these lovely creatures would tell you so himself, heh.. I do hope you can figure out who was responsible for this avian masterpiece. I'll be checking too, as soon as I get caught up with some work.
For our friends who might be enjoying this model with us, I can assure you finding a really good owl porcelain is something akin to looking for the proverbial needle ... so many are simply plain kitsch and a terrible waste of good clay! Many times when they paint these things, they tend to wander even further down the wrong trail. I'm not too fond of the later and newer versions either, those with the matte color palettes and finishes. Some of the sculptures are very good, but the flat paint schemes just don't do it for me.
I'll take a nice gloss finish any day. For anyone who smokes cigars or cigarettes, I'd advise keeping bisque and matte-finished porcelains tucked well inside a good cabinet. What might be good for daggers is pure hell on items like those.
You've found 'the best of all worlds' with this one G, very well done and many thanks for the nice pics.
Best!
W~
