Photos on my flicker set:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9ine6ix/sets/72157623081665937/
Basically it's a wooden dragon-type thing I bought recently after having had my eye on it for a while. It appears to be hand-carved out of light-weight and fibrous wood, but due to its size it's still pretty hefty.
It seems that the body was carved separate from the other parts (legs and wings).
The bottom is hollowed out and there are holes through it that appear to be eye holes, but they actually line up with the mouth of a "face" that is carved into the back of the beast. Due to that I thought it might be a mask of some sort, but it's pretty heavy to be a mask and I think it was hollowed out just to be more lightweight.
It's about 4 feet long, 2 feet wide and 2 1/2 feet high.
A number of repairs, a toe and a couple teeth missing, but I like that it's seen its share of trouble.
A friend who designs museum books said it reminded him of something Indonesian or Balinese but not quite, and said he thought it was more of a folk-art representation of something along those lines but he wasn't really sure.
I paid $110 for it and I really like it so that was a fair price for me - I'm not as much interested in what it's worth as I am in knowing if anyone has any idea what it is - origins, or maybe leads for me to investigate.
Thank you for you time.
-Daniel
Re: Carved wood dragon - folk art? Something else?
Wow, I am jealous...my Bali dragon mobiles are all small.
This is a hand carved & painted hanging dragon mobile, probably from Bali, Indonesia. They are commonly & currently made as souvenirs but your sculpture is far from common, IMHO. I would call it folk art. Your looks like it is really well done & has some good age on it. I cannot find any mobiles combined as a mask...wonder if your sculpture could ever have been used in the Barong Dance...some of those masks can be huge. Older, well-done, "touristy" pieces formerly looked down upon are beginning to be looked upon as the folk art they are.
It is so hard to research this art & the field is quite specialized. John Buxton of the Roadshow does photo appraisals...I am going to ask him to do appraisals for me. http://www.arttrak.com/ Could not hurt to try to contact a Bali museum, either.
Let me know if you learn anything...I also have a large goddess/angel in this style that I have tried to research.
Re: Carved wood dragon - folk art? Something else?
Thank you very much for your reply! That gives me a good start, and I will attempt to contact John Buxton to get his impression.
Yes, the bottom of the feet and underside where it's hollowed out do show some good age patina, and its general "look and feel" just says it's somewhat old, to me (maybe not antique, but has some years on it).
I'm not entirely convinced that it was used as a mask (or designed as such), but the "eye holes" on the back face carving do make me suspect it just a bit...seems like it would be very heavy and cumbersome, though.
One detail I like is that 3 of the feet point forward, but the 4th foot points outward at an angle - whether that signifies something or not, I do not know.
I have found a good spot to hang it from the ceiling in one corner of my living room, and Doug (as I have named him) greets all visitors who dare to enter.
If I find out anything, I'll definitely drop you line via MySpace or whatnot. Thank you again, and best regards.