Moorcroft BEAUTY IN THE RUFF 6/9 Vase Limited Edition 5/5 Retail Price £1282

        Moorcroft's Description

In the avian world, extreme extravagance of attire is often the domain of the male. Kerry salutes the male of the Ruff species, allowing him to fan the flames of a riverside drama like an audacious character in a pantomime, with electric blue and red feathers that soar out like an over fashioned feather bonnet, complete with a plunging neckline of marmalade and enormous blue pagoda sleeves – like a Bourbon Queen, the impact is immediate.

Of course, it is only his breeding plumage which includes brightly coloured head tufts, bare orange facial skin, extensive black on the breast, and the large collar of ornamental feathers that inspired this bird's English name. Non-breeding birds are pale fawn-brown all over, with a paler belly. Tucked discreetly into the watery grasslands is the female, with grey-brown upperparts and white-fringed, dark-centred feathers.