A wee custom

Here's a project....one of my customers had an old and quite valuable Chippendale mirror that was period, and fully correct except the bird at the top was replaced by something that looked like a fat chicken. Period Mirrors are very expensive, and the chance of finding a bird from the 1700's is nearly impossible so he wanted a correct reproduction carving.

In the 1700's a Phoenix was the preferred bird, symbolizing the American Independence (moreso than an Eagle). But the bird had to look right. It needs to look beat up, as if it just came out of a fire, and mad as hell - with ATTITUDE. Its not an easy look to capture.

I knew just the guy for the job, Stephen Plaud of Tiverton RI. So my customer hand-carried the mirror to RI from VA and we set about to make a bird. It took three tries over 6 months, but this last one - just completed this week - nailed it.

Once my customer approves it, it will be gold-leafed . BTW, the carver did this all from photos of period mirrors in museums.

Cool. Much nicer than an eagle!