WHITE RHINO HENKMAM CLAY SCULPTURE WITH BRONZE COATING ON WOODEN WALL MOUNT

THIS IS A VERY LIFELIKE CLAY SCULPTURE OF A WHITE RHINO BY HENKMAM.
I DO NOT KNOW IF ONLY AIR DRYED OR OVEN FIRED OR BOTH BUT THEY ARE OF HIGH QUALITY AND VERY HARD. THESE ARE NOT YOUR AVERAGE ANIMAL BUSTS. THIS ONE LOOKS TO BE STAINED OR COATED WITH A BRONZE FINISH. AND OF COARSE SKILLFULLY HANDMADE BY THE ARTIST.
MOUNTED STRONGLY AND SECURELY ON A PIECE OF HARDWOOD WITH A MOUNTING WALL BRACKET AT BACK.
HISTORY: I HAVE 7 CLAY SCULPTURES ON AUCTION THIS WEEK (ELEPHANT, LION, LEOPARD, CARACAL, HIPPO, WARTHOG AND RHINO). THEY WERE BOUGHT ON AUCTION.
I WAS TOLD THEY CAME FROM A STORAGE UNIT OWNED BY A MAN FROM ENGLAND AND WERE ON THEIR WAY TO ENGLAND BUT WITH ALL THE LOCKDOWNS THEY ENDED UP ON AUCTION.
THE ARTIST: I CAN ONLY ASSUME THEY WERE MADE BY AN SOUTHAFRICAN ARTIST. THREE OF THE SEVEN CLAY SCULPTURES (WARTHOG, HIPPO AND LEOPARD) IS SIGNED BY WHAT APPEARS TO BE HENKMAM (PLEASE SEE PHOTOS I AM ADDING THE HIPPO AND WARTHOG SIGNATURES PHOTOS). THE RHINO SCULPTURE DOES NOT APPEAR TO BE SIGNED BUT IS OF THE SAME STYLE AND WERE PART OF THE SAME LOT SO I ASSUME AGAIN THE SAME ARTIST DID ALL THESE SCULPTURES.
WHAT STRIKES ME ABOUT THESE CLAY SCULPTURES IS NOT ONLY THAT THEY ARE VISUALLY APPEALING AND VERY SKILLFULLY AND REALISTICALLY DONE BUT IT IS THE NICE SMELL OF CLAY THAT STAYS WITH ME.
How did the White Rhino get its name?
White rhinos are the second largest land mammal and their name comes from the Afrikaan's, a West Germanic language, word weit which means wide and refers to the animal's mouth. Also known as the square-lipped rhinoceros, white rhinos have a square upper lip with almost no hair.
The government of South Africa and dedicated conservationists teamed up to bring the southern white rhino back from possibly fewer than 50 individuals in the early 1900s to roughly 17,000 18,000 today though that population has declined over the past 3 years because of poaching.
Unfortunately, white rhinos are seeing higher poaching levels than black rhinos, particularly in South Africas Kruger National Park, largely because they generally live in more open habitats where they are easier to target. Sadly, from 2012 to 2017, the poaching scourge led to a more than 15% decrease in white rhino numbers.
The white rhino, along with the roughly equal-sized Greater one-horned rhino, is the largest species of land mammal after the elephant. It has two distinct subspecies, but only populations of the southern white rhino (Ceratotherium simum simum) remain viable. The northern whiter hino (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) is extinct in the wild due to poaching and only two females remain in captivity.
SIZE OF RHINO MOUNTED: 11CM WIDE 21CM HIGH 17CM DEEP
CONDITION: EXCELLENT CONDITION. NO DAMAGE THAT I CAN SEE.
PLEASE ALSO SEE MY OTHER ITEMS LISTED. I HAVE 7 CLAY ANIMAL BUSTS ON AUCTION THIS WEEK.