Object Description
A finely carved late 19th century (circa 1890) Black Forest linden wood hall stand of a bear.
This hall stand consists of a finely carved bear standing upright with his arms outstretched to support walking sticks, canes and umbrellas – there is also a wooden chain that can help support the sticks.
The bear is finely carved in linden wood, he is very naturalistic and his fur is superbly carved, he has a friendly face with a collar and wooden chain, all supported on a naturalistic base with clover leaves, the base having a tin drip tray.
Although this is a hall stand it is equally a highly decorative freestanding carving of a bear.
The small village of Brienz in The Swiss Alps is renowned for superbly and finely carved linden wood figures of farm and domestic animals as well as bears, these carved items were know as ‘Black Forest’.
The carvings from the Brienz region were known for being superbly realistic with wonderful depiction of fur and feathers etc. and for being carved from one piece of wood, usually in lime or linden wood.
The bear hall stand was the most popular type of hall stand, they were normally fitted with a tin drip tray to prevent the wood from getting wet.
Reference: very similar Black Forest carved bear hall stands can be found in the book ‘Swiss Carvings – The Art of the ‘Black Forest 1820-1940’’ by Jay Arenski, Simon Daniels and Michael Daniels – pages 100-111.
This carved bear hall stand is in very good condition for age, is of stable construction and can go straight into a home,
Size:
Height: 47” / 119.5cm
Width: 19” / 48.25cm
Depth: 20” / 50.75cm