During the past few weeks, I have been busy with finalizing my book (which will be out soon) and also starting a new sculpture. This time it is not a small full-body sculpture but a life-sized aurochs head bust. It is based on the Ilford skull at the British Museum of London. I thought it would be most precise to at first replicate the skull as accurately as possible and then to reconstruct the soft tissue and fur around it. This is the replica of the skull, made of paper maché, fimo air and polyurethane foam, photo taken today:
It looks a bit slenderer than the Ilford skull, which is only on the photo. Perhaps due to perspective. A 3D-scan of the actual skull was very helpful to me for getting the proportions right. My replica is exactly 73,5 cm long, which is the size of the Ilford skull that I was told.
It was quite difficult to get the horns right, due to their highly three-dimensional curvature.
The next step will be connecting the lower jaw to the skull and then creating the base of the neck with the foam. Then I am going to sculpt the horn sheaths over the cores, which always involves some speculation as there is no rule of thumb of how much the sheath adds to the length of the horn. The final surface of the bust will be made of fimo air and I am going to paint it with acrylics.
An interesting project, looking forward to the result.
ReplyDelete¿En qué idiomas saldrá tu libro?
ReplyDeleteRecently, I was surprised to come across a photo of a black Przewalski's horse on Instagram.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to share this with you, as I haven’t seen you mention this individual or the existence of a black Przewalski before.
Do you think this could be a pure Przewalski, or possibly a cross with a domesticated horse?
If so, this individual (or it's genes) could have great potential in a breeding back project.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CrPU8M0IR8_/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
I've found some videos in which the horse can be seen in Tierpark Riesa where it lived before being translocated to Wildgehege Moritzburg.
https://youtu.be/LCpaZgyoMd0?si=Ur9avLeLO9vmeH8q
https://youtu.be/yMdYsvDVJXM?si=TETrZKRSfkuE8mf5
https://youtu.be/58mBTmYXlMk?si=T0AzTvtfeRmYnXUn
Very interesting, thanks for sharing! I asked the Wildgehege Moritzburg on Facebook if this is a hybrid, I hope they'll respond. My suspicion is that it has Konik x Przewalski in its ancestry. Black dun individuals have never been reported from wild-catches from Mongolia, so I suspect this is not part of the natural colour variation in the PH but rather the result of a recent cross.
DeleteJust out of curiosity, did you ever receive a reply?
DeleteYes, it is a Konik-Przewalski mix according to the zoo.
DeleteI'm very curious as to why this animal was created. While Przewalski's DO have domestic horse admixture, the zoo community very much does NOT want more domesticated blood added in!
DeleteWas this animal intentionally created? Or was it an accident?
I could imagine it descended from the Lippeaue horses, but I have to ask in order to verify.
DeleteBut are both parents of this horse descendants of the same Konikcross?
ReplyDeleteHey Daniel, one Question: so you get any notifications when somebody replies in your older Posts? Or do you have to look on your own if there are new replies?
Since Black is dominant in horses, only one parent would need to be a descendant of a Konik/Przewalski's cross in order for this horse to be Black.
DeleteBlack is recessive in horses, it is dominant in cattle
DeleteThat's actually not quite right. In horses, it's Red which is recessive. Black is dominant over Red.
DeletePrzewalski’s themselves are Black. They just have the Agouti gene on top of it. Agouti modifies the Black into Bay, which is further modified by Dun.
Then they have Pangaré on top of all of that, which gives them their light points. (Bellies, muzzles, eye rings, etc.)
Red is recessive because it is on the Extension locus, black is on the Agouti locus (allele a). Przewalski's are bay + dun. Koniks and other grullo horses are black + dun.
Delete