Folk Art of Europe & Rest of World »
Antique Wooden Toy Steam Engine & Thresher
Ref: 2706
In the days before children were taken to their nearest toy mega store to buy their toy trains, tractors and other working vehicles, made in plastic or metal and probably in China, it was customary for grandfather & other relatives to make toys as gifts and such items form a particular branch of traditional folk art.
This terrific small wooden steam engine puling what is presumably a threshing machine was found in a remote part of Eastern Europe is a rare survival & harks back to pre-industrial times when harvesting was a major event in the village. The steamer would pull the large pine sided threshing machine looking like a fairground house into the fields where it would fire up and do it's work, everybody would attend and there was much excitement and feasting. The scene is captured well in Roman Polanski "Tess" based on Hardy's Wessex novel, the director was born in Poland and in his childhood he may have witnessed scenes of traditional country life akin to those seen by Hardy but almost a 100 yrs earlier.
Eastern Europe late 19th or early 20th cent.
H: 35cm (13.8in)
W: 90cm (35.4in)
D: 20cm (7.9in)
SOLD
Print Back