Early 20Thc Folk Art Fairground Horse’S Head With Horsehair Mane C.1920-30

The wonderfully characterful carved and painted wooden horse’s head, believed to be a surviving fragment from a fairground or carousel horse, the whole boldly modelled with a dramatically arched neck, elongated muzzle, open mouth and pricked ears, the head retaining an extraordinary amount of its original surface: predominantly a wonderfully faded reddish-chestnut paint with traces of darker and lighter decoration to the surviving real horsehair mane, individually set into the crest of the neck, together with inset eyes and metal rings fitted either side of the mouth for the original bridle or bit and now mounted upon a later painted timber display base.

The condition is wonderfully untouched and atmospheric, with extensive rubbing, craquelure, losses and old marks throughout the painted surface. There are age-related splits through the timber, losses and wear around the eyes and mouth, and considerable thinning and irregularity to the horsehair mane. The ears show wear and old repairs or losses around their bases. All of this is entirely consistent with something which appears to have lived a fairly vigorous working life, and importantly the surface has not been over-restored. The later stand allows the fragment to be displayed safely and very effectively.

Carved wooden horses formed the centrepiece of the great fairground roundabouts of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, their exaggerated expressions and brilliant painted surfaces deliberately designed to be read amid the colour, movement and spectacle of the travelling fair. Heads and other fragments occasionally survived after rides were dismantled or individual animals became beyond economical repair. Whilst it is difficult to assign an individual fragment to a particular maker or ride without documentary provenance, the carving, inset eyes, applied horsehair and remnants of tack seen here are entirely in keeping with the traditions of European fairground carving of the period.

A particularly evocative piece of early twentieth century folk and fairground art, made considerably more appealing by the survival of its wonderfully dry, distressed painted surface and extraordinary horsehair mane. The almost skeletal arrangement of the remaining mane, staring eyes and open mouth give the horse a rather wild expression, while its fragmentary nature transforms what was once a functional component of a fairground attraction into a striking piece of sculptural folk art.