Multicolored Hand Painted Wood Turtle Alebrije Figurine, "The Turtle and the Sea"

This brightly-colored copal wood turtle is something seen in a fever dream, but one that certainly isn't nightmarish. Hand-carved, the appealing sea turtle alebrije comes from Jesus and Roxana Hernandez of San Martín Tilcajete, Oaxaca. The aquatic creature's flippers are turquoise blue and its head red and green. It's the beautiful hand painted shell where the artisan's skill really shines. Divided into seven segments, the shell features different intricate patterns in brilliant blue, green, purple, and pink.

It is said that Oaxaca's alebrije tradition descends directly from Mexico City artisan Pedro Linares (1906-1992). When he was 30, he became seriously ill and fell into a sort of coma. While he was unconscious, he had a most fantastic dream. He was caught between the land of the living and the dead; the place looked like a forest and was populated with creatures with body parts belonging to different animals. The beings repeatedly uttered the word alebrije, and when Linares woke up, he recreated these figures in vivid colors using papier mache techniques and called them alebrijes. His work became famous and eventually influenced artisans in the state of Oaxaca who decided to craft alebrijes using traditional wood carving methods and according to that region's world vision.