Merman Monkey?

I'm gonna go ahead and tell you not to google "merman monkey" unless you're into weird occult Halloween kinds of things...

With that said, what in the world is this?

The base is wood, the figure has a small tuft of animal hair, the top half is some sorta animal horn, and the top-most part is carved bone.

Just a weird creation?

Nothing on the base, about 7" tall. Thanks for any comments.

 

Looks like some sort of creation doing a 'hand stand'!! Does it come apart at that joint midway??

 

Yeah-- it's weird!

It does not come apart-- there seems to be old / rusty pins or nails holding the parts together.

 

The original is here ....... https://bnn.network/history/the-mys...museum-a-fascinating-tale-of-monkey-and-fish/

 

How bizzare ! I love it. I initially thought African,but I also see some Asian too.

 

thanks......
once u see that... u can't unC that..

 

I think you've turned a corner.................

go back to NA pottery.......please !!!!...

 

But you can google "Fiji Mermaid" which is what those half monkey-half fish creations were called in the 19th century.
So yes, there are quite a few of them, made by stitching the upper half of a (baby) monkey to a fish tail. And thus the fish tale of a mermaid found in the waters of the South Pacific was born.

Maybe yours was made in te Philippines or Indonesia?

 

Ok-- so this is probably a single one-off creation of someone with a lot of time and animal parts on his hands.

That seems quite likely-- thanks for the suggestion.

I agree! Let's see what I can find...

Here's one to 'cleanse our pallets':

 

Isn't yours a woodcarving?

I don't have any pallets at the moment, but that is certainly a sight for sore eyes.

 

YAY!!!!!!!!
Thank you kindly....!!

 

Funny....the B.I. Historical Society used to have one showing in a glassed case.....guess either it got too 'decrepit' or moth eaten and they must have removed it....amazing what people will create!!!!

 

ya but Mother Nature made a Platypus ,,,,,,and that screwed up folks for a long time !!!

 

They couldn't believe that the platypus was a real animal, but they believed that the Fiji Mermaid was real.

 

Nicely put!

 

It has wood, horn, bone and animal hair of some sort... the top part is an animal horn.

 

Oops, I see you mentioned that in your first post. I have the attention span of a squirrel.
So they put quite a lot of work into it. It also seems to have some age, maybe mid-century? Not MCM though.

 

Definitely not MCM!

 

Pottery, does it come apart? Maybe it is some sort of (medicine) container, like the Batak Naga Morsarang from Sumatra, which is half buffalo horn and half carved wood.
I should have photos of my Naga Morsarangs somewhere, if I find them I'll post them tomorrow.

 

It does not seem to come apart. I might pry out the old nail, just to see.