In the late 1970's I knew someone who had a huge collection of these creatures, and I remember seeing them for sale often in one of our top department stores - but I have never seen them since, and I cant remember their maker - I think they were from a Slavic country.
From memory they were quite expensive too. I have tried various Internet search terms, but haven't come up with anything remotely resembling them.
They are superbly crafted, solid pieces of clay which have been beautifully carved to reflect the personality of each animal. There was always an area with some glaze, and the remainder was left unglazed but wonderfully textured to represent each animals coat or skin.
I remember borrowing some of them occasionally as inspiration for my pottery students :)
Update 06.10.12 - well that didnt take long, thank you so much to Jeanne on the Faceboook page for this blog who identified it as Artesania Rinconada, from Uruguay, South America.
.....now off to their website to see more about it, and another site here:
You can hear the squirrel, they are so expressive!
ReplyDeleteThey made them well into the eighties too. My mother collected them. Alas, her collection is gone, so we cannot look for a tag. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI have an owl from the same studio, I too couldn't find anything on the Internet , hope someone knows the origin.
ReplyDeleteThanks folks, obviously popular then - Im curious what happend to them all.
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