Wood: Pine

Finish: Clear Gloss Lacquer

Appearance: Wide grain

Shape: Man – Frontal View

Overall Size: 10½” H x 1⅝“D x 3¾” W

Description:

The snake oil peddler became a common character in Western movies - a travelling "doctor" with suspicious credentials, selling typically bogus medicine called snake oil. To boost sales, an assistant in the crowd would corroborate the value of the product. The "doctor" would quickly leave town before his customers realized that they had been cheated.

This decorative piece of art was scrolled into pine and the details of this frontal view of a snake oil salesman’s image were burnt into the softwood using a technique called pyrography. The peddler’s detailed top hat, ruffled shirt, vest, bow tie, and jacket will remind you of characters you saw on old time Western movies. Adding to the visual interest is a patch and wrinkles in the salesman’s trousers, his pocket hankie, a pocket watch chain, full feature fingers, his handle bar mustache and full beard, and vivid facial features especially around his eyes and nose. There is a slight gap separating his legs, which creates a three dimensional effect. Of course, he is holding up a bottle of his cure all snake oil! The back of this wall hanging or standing sculpture still has the tree bark intact and the frontal outline of the snake oil salesman is apparent.