Object Description
A linden wood ’Black Forest’ Bear armchair from Peter Trauffer, modelled as a seated bear with a radiating grooved seat in his lap, his paws outstretched in an embrace and his head turned to the right, the fur and sharp teeth realistically carved and the eyes inset with glass. Swiss, circa 1890.
Footnote: For many years carved wooden pieces such as this bear were wrongly thought to have come from the Black Forest in Germany. However, we now know that a wide variety of carvings were actually produced in the Swiss Alps as extensively researched by Arenski, Daniels and Daniels. In their publication ‘Swiss Carvings, The Art of the ‘Black Forest’ 1820-1940’, Woodbridge, 2005; p135, pls 215-216, they identify a very similar bear from the Peter F. Trauffer Luzern Wood Carving Catalogue, design no. 1775. Trauffer had retail premises in Luzern and St.Moritz.