The child’s two-in-one rocking and pull along horse, composed in wood and hessian and covered in its original horse hide covering with hair tail, having glass eyes and modeled with one front foot raised, on a scarlet painted trundle base with line and scroll decoration and with detachable rocker, surviving in un-meddled with country-house condition and the collection of the late Professor Michael Jaffé, Clifton Maybank.
The collection of the late Professor Michael Jaffé, Clifton Maybank.
The late Michael Jaffé, a noted art historian and former Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, bought the Clifton Maybank estate in 1971 and set about furnishing it with beautiful items. Jaffé held many positions in the UK and the USA including Head of the Department of Art History at Cambridge and Professor of Renaissance Art at Washington University. He was a drawings connoisseur and had a particular interest in the work of Rubens and the Old Masters.
The horse on bow rockers that we know and love today was a product of eighteenth century England and was popular with the wealthy with it being said they were used to help develop children’s’ balance for the riding of real horses.
A hugely decorative and attractive piece, perfect for a bay window.
The horse remains totally original and un-meddled with; the eyes and tail are present and original. There is expected wear to the hide and it has a lovely patina through years of use, though lacking any saddle or stirrups if such were present and she has a later cloth banding to keep the hide in place to one section. The painted decoration is original and not overpainted and overall it is undeniably hugely decoratively appealing. If there were a makers mark present it is now lacking though we believe it is German in origin or possibly French though we can’t find a makers mark or stamp.
By appointment only.
