Framed 19th Century American Horse Harness Heart

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There was a time when even a working horse carried a little protection against the unknown. This 19th-century American leather … Read more There was a time when even a working horse carried a little protection against the unknown. This 19th-century American leather harness heart comes from that tradition, when heart-shaped decorations were hung from the harnesses of heavy draft horses as talismans, believed to ward off evil and protect the animal as it worked. Here, the familiar shape is rendered with wonderful economy: aged leather outlined in brass nailheads, with a simple circle of brass studs at its center. Nothing is purely decorative, yet the result has the graphic strength of folk art.

Taken off the horse and out of the stable, it becomes surprisingly modern; an object whose beauty comes from purpose, repetition and belief rather than any artistic ambition. We’ve mounted it on a quiet beige linen ground and framed it in richly figured bird’s-eye maple, a deliberately refined setting for something decidedly humble. The contrast feels just right: a piece of rural superstition given its proper due. See less