Handsome Antique Black Duck Green Bill Working Decoy Signed parrots late 19th/very early 20th century

late 19th/very early 20th century or so I would guess

from their profiles and expressions to the detailing on the balls to the dense field of pin prick engraving for the ground

The visible design remains as a window into the vast reticulate intricacy of the universe

The person I purchased this from described him as a little lamb

with zig zag stitching holding the fabric tight to the inside covers

Handsome Antique Black Duck Green Bill Working Decoy Signed parrots late 19th/very early 20th centuryI am not a great expert on decoys, but I look at them a lot, and wait for one to strike me as especially beautiful and elegant, or awkward or empathetic! I'm more interested in the stoic than the fancy, and this black duck won me for the sensitively carved shape of its head and body, and for the old green paint on its bill, and for being super heavy and substantial, and for the fact that from one side especially it appears to have double eyes one