Hand-Painted Wood Alebrije Fish Sculpture from Mexico, "Fish Handstand"

Hand-carved of copal wood, a beautiful fish performs a "handstand" on its front fins, bringing the elegance of Mexican folk art to your home. Artisan duo Pablo and Lucy Mendez craft the stunning alebrije sculpture, diligently hand-painting the fish with intricate motifs in tones of blue and yellow.

Alebrijes are a fairly recent Mexican art form, attributed to Pedro Linares. Unconscious due to illness in 1936, he was presumed near death and yet his dreams were extremely vivid. He tells of a place where all was peaceful and quiet until all of a sudden there appeared a lion with an eagle's head, a rooster with bull's horns and a donkey with butterfly wings. They kept screeching "alebrije, alebrije!" and Pedro began running away. He encountered a man who told him it was not yet his time to be there are and he should continue running towards the exit. In this dream Pedro climbed out of a window and regained consciousness.