"Oseberg Dragon II"
Inspired by the collection of five dragons heads on display at the Viking ship museum in Oslo, Norway, often times these heads have been rendered by modern artists, as part of ships' dragon's heads. In actuality, these originals were utilized as part of a chair or ritual royal procession before they were buried in the royal burial mound of a ship in Oseberg, Norway, dating from the 9th century.
The artist was challenged to reproduce this one head in the collection, not out of soft bass wood, like the original, but out of a tree branch of solid white oak, selected during a forest walk. The challenge to the artist was to render the same level of high detail in the carvings, out of oak, that does not lend itself well to detail like bass wood. In addition, the artist found that working with oak was like working with marble in its level of hardness and difficulty. Measurements 27" X 6 1/2" X 20."
Note: The Viking Age art included scores of highly stylized animals and serpents, etc. During the rendering of this piece the artist assumed from the shape that the animal was first a seal, then a bear, but only during its final stages, did the piece begin to emerge as a dog. The artist assumes that the original master had used an Irish wolfhound skull as the model for the original