Alkonost. The sculpture is carved from bone

The sculpture is carved from a single moose horn base with toning and potal.

Alkonost in Russian Art and Legends – a bird of paradise with the head and hands of a virgin. It is often mentioned and depicted together with another bird of paradise, Sirin - we have a figurine of her in our collection: www.livemaster.ru/item/36503740-russkij-stil-sirin

The image of Alkonost goes back to the Greek myth of the girl Alcyone, who was turned into a kingfisher by the gods. Its name and image, which first appeared in translated monuments, are the result of a misunderstanding: probably, when rewriting the" Six Days "of John of Bulgaria, where we are talking about the kingfisher-alcyone (Greek :λλκυών), the words of the Slavic text "alcyone is a bird of the sea" turned into " alkonost». The earliest image of Alkonost is found in a book miniature of the XII century. This fabulous bird of Paradise has become known for monuments of old Russian literature (Kliment Smolyatich, Palea of the XIV century, azbukovnik XVI—XVII century) and lubok pictures.

According to another myth, the Alkionids, 7 daughters of the giant Alcyoneus, were transformed into Alcyoneus.

In Greece, there was a belief that the kingfisher hatches its chicks in 2 weeks around the time of the winter solstice (when the shortest day is), these quiet and windless days are called "Alkionides", "Alkionian days" or " days of Alcyone».