Irish Antique Crucifix - Freestanding Irish Crucifix - UNIQUE Handmade Oak Cross with Italian Gilt Metal Corpus - Irish Folk Art

A unique and interesting antique Crucifix from Ireland. The Corpus Christ - Body of Christ - was originally from Italy; it has a gilt finish and came from an earlier Crucifix that was broken. The Cross upon which it is mounted is made from a shaped base in old oak and the cross itself is fashioned from Hawthorn, a very hard and dense wood with both Christian (the Crown of Thorns) and Pagan / Celtic / Christian (The Glastonbury Thorn) connections.

The upright shaft of the cross has been cut away to allow the insertion of the crossbar, which is nailed into place; the upright is firmly fixed and glued into place on the base, displayed at an angle instead of square face-on. One of the most beautiful aspects of the cross is the markings, made many years ago by the larvae of an insect while the wood was growing - the most gorgeous and intricate pattern, with each little pathway ending in a tiny hole where the young emerged. 

We bought this from the grandson of the man who made the crucifix as it is today; although very proud of his Grandfather's work, he has many more items that he made, which he feels are more personal to him. The cross stands at 12.5" or 32cm high by 5.25" or 13cm wide and 5.5" or 14 cm deep. It weighs 530 grammes without any packaging.

The price is €125 inc worldwide shipping

 

Vintage Irish Taxidermy - A Gorgeous Reeves Pheasant with the Longest Tail Ever - Syrmaticus reevesli

Simply the most remarkable bird, this stately Reeves Pheasant has a tail of 39" (or one metre !! ) in length. The tail is detachable for transport. Having seen quite a few birds of this type before, we have never seen one with this unusual colouration; the Reeves Pheasant here in the wild are not so bright; we get normal and black ones in our garden.  The Reeves' were introduced to Europe from China and are named after the British naturalist John Reeve who first brought them over to the British Isles in 1831.

He is a most handsome specimen and we would love to see him go to a good home. The tail can be detached which is an intelligent feature for posting ( the box would be HUGE if not ) and it slides easily back onto the wire were it says quite happily - or it could be glued to fix it permanently by its new owner.

This lovely bird of Chinese Origin has been wonderfully modelled by a skilful taxidermist who has achieved something special; he has the longest tail we have ever seen of around one metre and has been mounted on a tall column so the tail is not dragged by touching any surface.

Dimensions are 1355mm / 53" long, 760mm / 30" high and around 140mm /5.5" deep. All measurements include the stand.

The Price is €395 inc worldwide shipping.