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Hand carved Oaxacan alebrije owl, Taller Fuentes, San Martín Tilcajete
Copal wood, hand carved and hand painted in Oaxaca. 8 x 5 x 3 inches. $245, free worldwide shipping.
A tecolote with wings thrown open, carved from copal and painted by hand in San Martín Tilcajete, the Oaxacan village where the alebrije tradition lives. I buy directly from the Taller Zeny Fuentes y Reyna in Tilcajete. I have been to the workshop, met the family in person, including the patriarch, Reyna, and their daughters, and I carry their work because I have watched them make it. This piece is signed on the base under the workshop name rather than by Zeny personally, which places it as a workshop attribution under the family, one tier below a piece Zeny signed himself. I would rather tell you that plainly than let the family name do work it has not earned on this particular carving. What the piece does earn is the painting. Every surface of it, the breast, the back, the head, the crown of the ears and both faces of both wings, is covered in fine-line scale feathering in lavender on black, laid down freehand with a brush thinned to a few bristles, thousands of strokes that stay even in size and spacing from the throat to the wing tips. The facial disc is a pink sunburst around turquoise eyes, the ear tufts are dotted in pale blue, and teal teardrops fall down the tail. The owl in Oaxacan and wider Mexican tradition is the bird that sees in the dark and sits between worlds, which is why the carvers keep coming back to it.
Condition
New and unused, straight from the workshop. No chips, no losses, no paint flaking, no cracks in the copal. The line work is crisp and unbroken throughout, including the wing undersides, which many carvers leave plain and this one does not. The wings are carved as separate pieces and fitted into the body at the shoulders, which is standard construction for a spread-wing alebrije and lets the piece exist at all, and the joints are visible on close inspection if you look for them. Stands unaided on four painted talons without rocking. Copal is a light, soft wood, so treat this as the delicate object it is, keep it out of direct sun and away from damp, and dust it with a dry soft brush rather than a cloth that can catch a wing tip.
Measurements
8 inches high, 5 inches wide across the spread wings, 3 inches deep. Solid copal wood, hand carved, not cast, not resin, not machine finished.
A note on the photographs
Photographed in natural daylight against neutral granite so the lavender reads true rather than blue. Front, both profiles, rear and the signed base are all shown. The purple in hand is slightly deeper than the photographs suggest.
Grade and appraisal
Assigned grade: A minus. The painting density is the top of what this tradition produces, the condition is flawless, it is signed, it is one of a kind, and it comes to you through a direct relationship with the family rather than through three middlemen. It is held out of a straight A by the 8 inch scale, which sits under the 10 and 11 inch pieces that set the top of this market, and by the workshop attribution rather than a personal Zeny signature. It is priced at $245. Gallery replacement value, meaning what an equivalent Fuentes family owl currently costs through a US folk art dealer, and the figure that matters for insurance: $695.
Item specifics
Material: Copal wood, acrylic paint
Origin: San Martín Tilcajete, Oaxaca, Mexico
Workshop: Taller Zeny Fuentes y Reyna
Attribution: Signed under the workshop name, not personally by Zeny Fuentes
Method: Hand carved, hand painted, freehand line work
Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 3 inches
Condition: New, unused
Quantity: One of a kind
Tariff code: 4420.11
Shipping and duties
Free worldwide DHL Express with tracking on this piece. I pay the freight in full.
Import duties, VAT and GST are not prepaid by me. On many destinations and Etsy collect the import tax from you at checkout, and where that happens you owe nothing on arrival. Where the order value sits above the destination\'s low value threshold, the tax is assessed at the border instead and DHL collects it before delivery. The parcel carries tariff code 4420.11 for hand carved wooden statuettes with Mexican origin declared on the commercial invoice, which is what lets you claim the zero or preferential duty rate on your end.
Estimates on a $245 declared value. These are estimates, not quotes, and rates change.
Destination | Import tax | You pay on arrival
Mexico | None, domestic sale | Nothing
United States | None, duty free under USMCA | $0 - $20 USD
Canada | GST/HST, collected at checkout | Nothing
United Kingdom | VAT 20%, above the £135 threshold | £49
Germany | VAT 19%, above the €150 threshold | €63
France | VAT 20%, above the €150 threshold | €65
Netherlands, Spain | VAT 21%, above the €150 threshold | €68
Italy, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Greece | VAT 22 - 24% | €70 - €75
Denmark, Sweden, Finland | VAT 25% | €77
Switzerland | VAT 8.1% | CHF 38
Japan | Consumption tax 10% | ¥5,300
Australia | GST 10%, collected at checkout | Nothing
New Zealand | GST 15%, collected at checkout | Nothing
Norway | VAT 25% at the border | NOK 775
If your delivery address at checkout differs from the address on your account, please contact me first, as the difference in shipping would need to be covered.
Packed professionally in Colonia Americana, Guadalajara, with the wings braced separately. Please open the carton along the seams only, never with a blade through the top.
Questions
Please message me. You will reach me, a real person, not an automated system and not AI. I answer every message myself.
God bless,
Ricardo Ivan Cardenas EMBA
St. Joseph\'s University New York Business School Graduate
