Patinated cast bronze, incised signature "© offner" on the top of the base, inscribed "Smith College / JM stamp / edition 150" on the side edges of the base.

6 1/2 x 5 3/4 x 6 in.

Elliot Melville Offner studied at Cooper Union and later received his Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts from Yale University. He was a talented sculptor of birds and other wildlife. Offner was a professor of art and humanites at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts from 1960 until his retirement in 2004, and was appointed Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Humanities in 1974. Elliot is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award; a Gold Medal from the National Sculpture Society; National Sculpture Society Medal of Honor; among many other awards and achievements.
This maquette version was a study for his final large bronze sculpture Great Blue Heron at the Smith College campus, as well the Darien Public Library courtyard in Darien, Connecticut.

Some rubbing to the patina, some misshaping to legs with associated small crack to one leg.