"Winged" Ceremonial Bowl

This piece was inspired by a photo posted on a woodturning website. The picture was of a vase, photographed in a museum, and as I was admiring it, my eye was drawn to some shapes in the lower right corner. They looked like this, I thought. But when I looked closer, they turned out to be pieces of jewelry -- sort of a cross between a necklace and a chest plaque. "Well", I thought, "I still think it would make an interesting bowl shape." So I stored the idea away. The ends in the originals were simply hooks, to fasten into a cord or chain. I wanted something a little more interesting and fitting for a bowl. It took me a while, but I finally found something -- and that spurred me into actually making the piece. It is 16 inches long and 7 inches wide. The wood is spalted Birch.