Very Expressive Folk Art Polychromed Carved Wood Seagull crochet sample book and clearly very old

and clearly very old

This does not stand up on its own

While it reads as black in these photos

which is a pottery studio in Gouldsboro

I am not certain of the artist as the only mark on the bottom is "1642 Italy" and I have not found its match

Very Expressive Folk Art Polychromed Carved Wood Seagull crochet sample book and clearly very oldThis wonderful seagull, carved of wood and polychromed, has a familiarity about it to me, as if done by an artist whose work I have seen somewhere but can't place. It's definitely not your average seagull, I really think done by someone known, and something tells me from Nova Scotia but that's just a hunch. The painterly white head with mossy green yellow tipped beak is just glorious, and I love the way it stands balanced on tail features with wire