Object Description
A ‘Black Forest’ Dog Group
The naturalistically carved limewood group shows the bitch couchant and her three playful pups; glass eyes are used in all the figures, in the manner of Walter Mäder.
Black Forest area, Circa 1900
Dimensions: H: 8 in / 20 cm | W: 20 in / 51 cm | D: 9 in / 23 cm
Brienz, Bernese Oberland, Switzerland
Brienz, in the Bernese Oberland, Switzerland was remarked upon in Baedeker’s Travel Guide, as having a population of 2400, of whom 600 persons were employed as woodcarvers, to supply the tourist trade to Switzerland with mementos of the tour. A museum devoted entirely to the art of wood carving may be visited today.
References:
Arenski, Jay, Michael Daniels, and Simon Daniels. Swiss Carvings: The Art of the Black Forest : 1820-1940. Woodbridge: Antique Collectors’ club, 2004; illustrating comparable examples.