Alexander Grabovetskiy holds Die Besoffene Kuah, a round custom wood carving of a cow's head with roses between the horns. It is American basswood, 36 inches across, made for a winery in Austria.

Figural

Die Besoffene Kuah (The Drunk Cow)

Material: American basswood
Discipline: Figural
Year: 2026
Size: 36 in across, 14 in deep (91 x 36 cm)
Collection: Figural Reliefs

Die Besoffene Kuah ("The Drunk Cow") is a round relief of a cow's head that Alexander Grabovetskiy carved in 2026 for a wine producer in Austria. The design comes from the winery's own logo. Five roses sit between the horns. He carved the whole piece from American basswood, 36 inches across and 14 inches deep, so the nose stands far out from the disc while the leaves and small berries in the crown stay low. It is a custom wood carving, still in bare wood here, and it hides him from the mustache down.

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More from Figural Reliefs

Alexander Grabovetskiy shaping a large roaring wolf head, a custom wood carving with Celtic knotwork base.

Limewood figural cornucopia with a maiden's head and acanthus scrolls, a custom wood carving by Alexander Grabovetskiy.

Round limewood relief of a farmer guiding two draft horses plowing before mountains, hand-carved by Alexander Grabovetskiy as custom wood carving.

Master carver Alexander Grabovetskiy behind a custom wood carving with a central floral rosette and scrolling foliage.

Lion heads with flowing manes in high-relief limewood, a custom wood carving by Alexander Grabovetskiy.

Alexander Grabovetskiy's custom wood carving of a lion's head and scroll in limewood, shown mid-carving.

The Practice

The work as historical study

Every commission starts as a research project, not just an order. Before a single cut, the work is to study the piece: to trace a motif back to its period and its masters, to understand how the hand that first carved it thought and moved, and to carry a vanishing skill forward into a new piece, the way carvers have worked for centuries.

A carving from this studio is, for that reason, one of a kind: an interpretation of a historical style, never a copy stamped from a pattern. The grain of the wood, the line of the leaf, the depth of the undercut all record a study and a hand, and no two are ever the same. The studio doesn’t sell a mass-produced object. It delivers a finished carving with the scholarship, the design, and a lifetime of skill behind it. Every piece also keeps a little of a centuries-old art from being lost.

Every Carving Commission starts with a conversation.

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