by (unknown); ‘Old Vienna Bronze’
Sheath (empty)
circa 1899 (?)
A miniature marvel of skilled artistry, balanced aesthetics and simplified narrative combined. Despite its lost other half (was it an envelope-opener? a small knife?), one may easily interpret the sheath’s low-relief imagery with but an open imagination, perhaps revealing the original purpose of whatever once slid within. The Great Horned Owl (known in earlier days as the ‘winged tiger’ of the skies) perched atop the stairwell of perilously-piled tomes may signify the collective wisdom of time, an idea embodied effortlessly by the form of an owl whose calm, innate sense of duty and predatory daring as a species of the hunt reflects the maturity of evolution. The owl may also symbolise the now-rare use of birds as message-deliverers, or the belief that the souls of deceased loved ones may experience reincarnation through the eyes (so-to-speak) of sage, self-sustaining creatures, thus serving as ever-watchful companions over their kin. Even the weather-beaten saying, ‘Birds of a feather’, may apply some value to the sheath. Its upper nib is decorated with what may be seen as a curiously-curled rendition of a six-tailed plume (or might it be a furling, flaying tree?) which, in turn, might suggest the sheath as being one of a pair, or as that which protectively encloses its significant other. The sheath may even be a figurative extension of its owner and the business to which s/he attended with this very sheath (and its missing counterpart). Or, simply, the relief décor may just render the vignette of a sleepy owl, a column of nameless books and a tendril-frenzied shoot eager to lift the former pair into the dreamy, boundless skies - nothing more.
