Antique Carved Burl Wood Bird, Presumed Native American Woodlands, Ex. Axtell Collection brass key 14" x 9" x 11/16"

14" x 9" x 11/16" with two eye hooks along the top for hanging

Great imagery

just inside

but there is a "3" carved on the underside of his tail

Antique Carved Burl Wood Bird, Presumed Native American Woodlands, Ex. Axtell Collection brass key 14" x 9" x 11/16"A bit of a mystery, this bird, but such a beautiful thing, which came from the collection of "Smitty" Axtell, who was a great lover of carved treen objects. Carved of burl wood I believe, it feels to me Native American, bearing a strong resemblance to birds carved on effigy pipes and ladles, but I don't know for certain, and the reason for the holes carved down the back and up the belly is unknown, though it would seem likely it functioned as a tool