Old Carved and Painted Hawk or Falcon on Natural Wood Base Chinese export when he could not find

when he could not find a cloth to wipe his slate

in a manner not unlike ledger drawings

or sculptural paintings

representing three different sizes with various degrees of fineness

About as haunting a portrait

Old Carved and Painted Hawk or Falcon on Natural Wood Base Chinese export when he could not findI'm not the best at identifying birds, but certainly this is a bird of prey, either a falcon or a hawk I believe, with wire extending to form its crooked beak, and wonderfully large painted black eyes that make it seem keenly observant and poised not to miss a thing, miles around! Whether the base is original to it or not I can't say for sure, but they certainly feel akin, and there are two small holes in the wood into which the bird's wire feel