Antique Hand-Carved Wooden Horse on WheelsIndian Folk Art, 19th Century

DETAILS:
Length: 37 cm (14.6 in) · Height: 31 cm (12.2 in) · Width: 8 cm (3.1 in) — roughly the length of a shoebox
Materials: carved wood, original painted finish
Condition: antique condition; significant, age-consistent paint wear and loss; carving and wheels structurally sound

Across nineteenth-century India, village workshops carved wooden animals for both play and procession — figures pulled by children in the courtyard, or drawn through festival routes on wheeled platforms not far removed from this one. The horse was among the most common forms, painted with the same saddle-cloth and harness patterns that dressed real ceremonial animals, so that even a toy carried the visual language of a proper mount.

This example, Indian, nineteenth century, is carved in a single standing pose, mounted on a curved wheeled base that let it be pulled along the ground. The body is painted black with gold detailing throughout, and a red saddle cloth patterned in gold floral motifs covers the back and flank — note how the paint follows the carved musculature of the horse's haunch and shoulder rather than sitting as a flat layer over a blank form, the mark of a piece painted by someone working from the animal's real anatomy rather than a stencil. The pigment has thinned and flaked unevenly across the body, in the way old tempera and lacquer paints characteristically wear, exposing the wood beneath in places.

Whoever kept this horse before you kept it through more than a century of handling. The paint loss and wear are extensive but consistent with genuine age and use, not damage; the wheels turn and the carving itself is sound throughout. It is ready to stand on a shelf, a console, or among other folk pieces.

It arrives professionally packed and fully insured — we handle the paperwork and worldwide shipping. Returns are accepted within 30 days.

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