Here’s a crowned bird and flower design from inspiration to carving. The original artist is unknown, but little paintings like this one (c. 1840) were sometimes given by teachers as rewards to students. The bird may or may not have symbolized the soul, as birds are intermediaries between earth and heaven; if so, is this one crowned in glory? Or do these little guys just look better with something on their heads? (Original from The Pennsylvania German Fraktur of the Philadelphia Free Library, vol. 2, 1976.)
