HISTORY
Upon permanently migrating to Australia in the 1980's, we set about finding artworks pertinent to our new country. Most of our collecting revolved around oil paintings (landscapes) but sometimes we found an absolute "gem" and this Kookaburra was one of those.
In fact we named her (we assumed it was a "her") Matilda!
The craftsmanship, painting skills and absolute "life like" appearance are the main things that grabbed us. Matilda has been at the front door entrance, in the dining room and out on the covered verandah, always a stunning sight to see and in fact sometimes visitors would initially mistake Matilda for the "real thing" - it's in her eyes! They are SO lifelike and wherever you are in a room, Matilda is staring at you!
Just for fun (at our age we need to find all the fun we can get!) I took Matilda outside into the back garden to "get some fresh air!" I hope you enjoy some of our pictures of her enjoying a cool Winter morning ...
THE CERAMIC ARTIST:
In the early 1980's, Amerigo Poli emigrated to Australia from Florence, Italy. Already highly skilled in the craft of working with ceramics, Amerigo established his own ceramic art business called SCAT CERAMICS ITALIA.
In 1995, SCAT was acquired by Studio Australia and to this day they are very well known for their high quality ceramic creations, particularly relating to Australian birdlife. The equipment and techniques were replicated by the Studio Australia team of craftsman (actually mostly lady-folk) which means you can still purchase this Kookaburra and many other beautiful examples of their work on their own website.
Take a look at their website HERE, you will be truly amazed at the range and very reasonable pricing! We know that many people acquire an example of SCAT or Studio Australia ceramics and it stays in the family for years and years, it is very hard to let them go!
You will not see many of them offered for sale "2nd hand" for this very reason.
After 30 years in our family, Matilda needs to "fly away" to a new loving home ... we are "getting on" and the kids don't have the same passion for ceramics (or for that matter "art" in general) as we do so Matilda must find a new home ...
SCAT CERAMICS ITALIA - Ceramic Bird
Kookaburra standing on a tree stump
The Kookaburra (Tree Kingfisher) depicted is the "Laughing Kookaburra" species, commonly found in the Eastern States of Australia, Brown eye-stripe and mottled Light Blue on the wings.
ORIGINAL SCAT ceramic art
While the contemporary reproductions from Studio Australia are also of the highest quality and practically identical except for the possible variations in the hand painting and of course makers mark, it is "nice" to have an original SCAT in the home too. Perhaps when you visit the Studio Australia website you may see other birds which scream out to you "I MUST have that!" so that Matilda can have a partner!
HOW LARGE IS "MATILDA"
She is no miniature and stands tall and proud at 360mm height x 140mm wide (approximately - it depends which part of her you are measuring!)
While large, she is not a heavy-weight at just 1.2Kg (easy to move around the house)
COSMETIC CONDITION:
We guess this is the part which really matters, she is old (ish) and has seen a couple of different houses over the years but we love her and took care of her!
Matilda is clean!
Always she has lived in a smoke-free environment and in air-conditioned comfort!
NO chips of any kind (slivers, pieces missing etc)
NO cracking to the ceramic OR the glazing
We believe this ceramic was glazed at least twice, the finish is a high gloss - the only area without glaze is the base underside edge.
NO "roughness" to any part of her body, signs that something has happened to the surface glazing
Hand painting is true to the original colours (VERY realistic) including the underside of her beak, which has a sort of "dirty" look but this is intentional and the underneath of her tail feathers which are speckled, again this effect is intentional.
NO dirt marks to her body at all
Of course the base underside has SCAT incised into the white clay plus an old Blue/Red "Australian Made" paper sticker!
SUMMARY:
A stunning girl and a great example of original ceramic work from the SCAT workshop
We are paying for Matilda's trip to her new home, to Australian addresses ONLY i.e Free shipping within Australia
Of course we can send her overseas but in those cases, shipping will be at normal retail costs (depending upon which country she is going to live in)
Our pricing is intended to only recover our original costs and hopefully will also encourage someone to also purchase ANOTHER bird from Studio Australia - support local Australian businesses and talent!
We have sent a number of our delicate artworks and chinaware's all over the world and ALWAYS package extremely carefully (pointless sending a piece that we cherish that arrives at it's new home damaged!)
