Thursday, July 29, 2010

Horse Effigy Comb


I made this several years ago for my daughter. The horse effigy was inspired by a 30,000 year old Mammoth ivory carving found at Vogelherd in Germany and is known as one of the oldest sculptures in the world, it is less than 2" long.
I have been in love with prehistoric art since I was a child and my love for it continues to grow in appreciation. I see in this art an absolute purity of form and grace of line. It is said that all art is appropriated from earlier work...I wonder about the artist that made the ivory horse 30 thousand years ago...who were they emulating?

My carving is made from black ash burl and the tines of the comb are made from moose antler. The horses' mane, tail and the relief carved floral design are darkened by touching hot metal to the wood. Applying color accents by scorching is a technique found throughout early Native American art.

Size; 5.25" x 3.75"

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