On Thanksgiving I presented a turkey for the Blog, so it makes sense on Christmas I would present a goose, a bird traditionally served on this holiday. Depending on the location or culture, three are several traditional Christmas ‘meats’. In my household growing up we ate beef, and when I lived in the Czech Republic for grad school, carp was the traditional Christmas meal. Ham and turkey are also popular. But for this blogpost, I decided to go with a goose! Specifically, I am choosing the ‘Périgord’ goose released by Papo for their Farm Life line in 2003.
Different breeds of domestic geese are descended from different wild species. Most of the commercial breeds of geese are descended from the greyleg goose (Anser anser) or the swan goose (A. cygnoides). From what I can tell, ‘Périgord’ is not an actual breed of goose, but it is a region of France famous for breeding geese. The breed of goose depicted in this figure is probably either a Landes goose or Toulouse goose, both of which are descended from A. anser.
The figure stands approximately 6.5 cm tall. The erect posture with the heavier posterior end is indicative of a domestic bird. Wild type greyleg geese maintain a more horizontal posture with a slimmer rump. The level off detail put into the color scheme is good, but sloppily applied in a few places on this particular figure. The figure sits on a small base with minimal vegetation attached to the body. This is a popular trend with bird figures, probably to prevent breakage of slender legs.
If you want a domestic goose from the greyleg lineage, this is probably the best option currently readily available. Papo also released this sculpt painted white, which can be used to represent a different breed, such as the Emden. The CollectA domestic geese (with the head crest) are also very nice, but represent the domestic form of A. cygnoides.