Ma Hai Feng Pintail Drake

Ma Hai Feng (b. 1945) Hong Kong, 1985 15 1/2 in. long

Ma Hai Feng's family of artists reached back over 900 years. The artist was recognized and trained by the Chinese government as a child prodigy. At age fourteen, he was marked by his teachers to become a head of one of the four art schools in the country. After fleeing mainland China and setting up an art school in Hong Kong, the artist traveled to the United States. He entered his pieces in the Bird Carving World Championships and won many awards in the professional class in the 1980s. He also won the Ward Foundation's "Best in World" award in 1985. The Smithsonian held a one-man exhibition of his work that same year, and he has been collected by Prince Philip, Caroline Kennedy, and the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Museum.

Inscribed on the underside "To the Needlework Guild," signed, and dated. Original paint with light wear, including small flakes to tip of bill.