VAM galleries including this work:
International Museum of the Horse | Young at Art || VAM Home

This carved wooden animal represents a miniature Percheron draft horse. This stout, ornately detailed horse is gray with a white mane and face and white cornets (just above his hooves). It is one of a collection of 440 hand-carved miniature horses and horse-drawn vehicles assembled by M.B. Mervis of Barrington, Illinois, around the turn of the 20th century and in the two decades that followed. Collecting handmade miniatures was a popular hobby at the time, and the demand provided employment for numerous craftsmen. The artists who contributed to Mervis’ collection were known for producing some of the best work of the time.

Mervis put the collection together primarily as an instructional tool—to pass on his love and admiration of horses to his children. Later, executives of Sears, Roebuck and Company became interested in the pieces not only because they portrayed an important period of transportation history, but also because they chronicled the role Sears had played during the horse-drawn era. Sears purchased the set from a private collector in 1960. The company then donated the collection, which is valued at over $1 million, to the Kentucky Horse Park so that the public might enjoy this vivid saga of transportation.

About the Artist

Calvin Roy Kinstler was one of at least five prominent woodcarvers employed by M.B. Mervis to work on his collection of carved horses. A master craftsman, Kinstler was responsible for carving a great many of the horses. His realistic horse figures reflect his deep understanding of the unique characteristics of various horse breeds. Peter Winton, a Scottish dog breeder and coach builder who had worked for the famous coach company Crowall of Edinburgh, produced most of the vehicles in the collection. Three other well-known model makers, Charles Deck, Vernon Vincent Haff, and Peter Giba, also were involved in handcrafting the horses, vehicles, and tack.

Classroom Ideas

Discussion: The man who commissioned this horse and the larger collection it is part of did so primarily for educational purposes. What might one learn from a figurine such as Percheron? How does this horse’s appearance differ from the painted horse portraits in the International Museum of the Horse collection of the Kentucky Virtual Art Museum? What might these physical differences suggest about the way these horses were used?

Activity: The Percheron is a draft horse. What was the function of the draft horse in American history? How might draft horses have been important during the early part of the 20th century? How are their jobs performed today? Research and write an essay detailing the importance of some aspect of “horsepower” in the development of America. For example: Draft horses were a means of transportation. How have methods of transportation advanced in the past century? What are some of the pros and cons of these advances?

Links

Read about the history of the draft horse in America at the Kentucky Horse Park’s International Museum of the Horse web site.
[www.imh.org/imh/draft/drtoc.html]

Learn more about the Percheron at the Percheron Horse Association of America.
[www.percheronhorse.org]