Celestial Dragon

I was very excited to sculpt an eastern or oriental style dragon. All my dragon sculptures up to this point, have been western or European inspired dragons. Western or European inspired dragons typically are portrayed with wings, a massive body and four robust legs. Eastern dragons are something altogether different. They do not have wings, but nevertheless are capable of magical flight. They have a very long serpentine body and legs reduced in size. In researching this sculpture, I researched ancient artwork portraying dragons in the East and traditional descriptions of dragons. While there is quite a bit of variation in their description, there are some commonalities. They are chimeras, that means they are creatures created by combining parts from different organisms. A centaur with the body of horse and torso of a human is an example of this. Eastern dragons often take this several steps further. They are portrayed with the mane of a lion, the tail of a fish, the whiskers of a carp, the antlers of a stag, cow ears and a snake body, just to name a few of their parts.  I departed from this traditional description a bit when I sculpted the head. For the head, I was inspired by T-Rex. A fitting head and set of jaws for this powerful creature.

Eastern or Oriental dragons also differ from western inspired dragons in that eastern dragons are often viewed as forces for good. They are said to have the power to control the weather and waters as they swim through the oceans or fly through the heavens.

It was my pleasure to sculpt, “Celestial Dragon” and to offer this sculpture for show and sale. It is pretty cool.