Indonesian Harpy?

There's always the odds that it's just an "interesting" combination that doesn't have roots in mythology. To my knowledge, there's no actual creature with both wings and a fishtail.

Possibly, just possibly, it might be a representation of the little mermaid from H.C Anderson's fairytale of the same name. In the original story, she died, and because of her sacrifice, was turned into a angelic spirit so that she could gain a soul. Alternatively, it's a representation of the Siren of greek myth, who is depicted as both a mermaid-creature and a winged humanoid, and the figure you bought is a mix of both.

Are you sure that it's a fish-tail and not a snake-tail?

Haven't heard of something like that, no. But I'm not versed in all mythologies.

The greek Siren is typically depicted as having the body and wings of a bird and the head/face of a woman in the old urn paintings. More recent depictions give her more humaoid features, such as torso. Harpy sounds closer to this, but wouldn't have a "fish" tail.

How detailed is the tail? Is it possible the artist was going for a birdlike lower body and tail and... didn't quite get there?

Otherwise, it sounds like it's a random fantasy piece. Quite cool, from the sounds of it If you're ever able to take a picture, I'd love to see ^x^

Very cool. And yes, it is clearly scales on the tail, and feathers coming from her arms. It looks like someone other than the original artist added the feather detail in pencil, though. Before that, the tail scales and feathers would have been more similar.

Given the arrangement of the ending fins on her tail, I'd say she was intendend more for aerial maneuvering than aquatic. So rather than a winged fish-woman, I'd say she's some kind of feathered dragon-woman.

It's most likely the personal design of some kind of local artisan, and kudos to him or her for the overall design. I like how it seems somewhat feasible, especially with how they worked the fingers - similar to that of a bat's fingers forming the leading edge of the wing (and the spines, for a bat).

The design may have evolved originally from a scrimshaw mermaid, but the artist wanted a way to pose the arms differently, and still have them be sturdy. So the wings were added as an inspiration, and the tail adapted to suit the "mermaid's" new flight capabilities. Iunno, just an idea.

But I think I'll google this...