Confuciusornis

Confuciusornis is one of a series of sculptures created as part of a commission for the Cincinnati Museum Center’s dinosaur exhibit that opened in 2018. The cast bronze sculptures offer museum visitors an opportunity to touch replicas of skeletons on exhibit while still being sturdy enough to enjoy the attention of numerous school groups without damage. The creation of these touchable sculptures was deemed especially important for visually impaired museum visitors.  

The Confuciusornis sculpture was created through the same developmental process as the other sculptures that I created for the Cincinnati Museum Center. I was given access to skeletal material, in this case a well preserved specimen with its feathers clearly delineated in rock matrix around the skeleton. I developed an initial sculpture that was then critiqued and altered several times for anatomical accuracy. Upon final approval each sculpture was taken to the foundry for molding and bronze casting.

Confuciusornis was an avian dinosaur or early bird that must have been very common in the early Cretaceous Period. Large numbers of incredibly well preserved fossils of this animal have been recovered from north eastern China. Anatomically, Confuciusornis had many characteristics in common with modern birds along side many much more primitive features. Like modern birds, Confuciusornis was covered with feathers that were differentiated according to their different purposes including flight and contour feathers. Primary feathers in the wing were asymmetrical just like in modern birds. It had a beak just like modern birds already lack-ing the teeth of the much more famous Archaeopteryx. A couple of notable primitive characteristics that clearly set it aside from more modern birds are the presence of three clawed fingers protruding from the leading edge of each wing and the lack of any tail feathers extending beyond the pygostyle.  

Confuciusornis was about the size of a crow in life with a wingspan of approximately 24-26 inches. The sculpture of Confuciusornis was created life sized and shows this ancient bird in flight. The sculpture is solidly bolted to the display surface or base with three threaded rods covered in black metal sleeves. The sleeves have been removed in these images to better show the robust rod used to mount the sculpture to the base.