Please help(sculpture of some sort) what this may be or where it is from?

[edande]

 



http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e190/allstar246/IMAGE_007.jpg
Can someone please tell me where this is from and what it may be ?? It was found by my grandfather in the 50's in the middle of the woods (literally) in Fort Washington, MD but I do not think its from the United States.

As far as I am concerned I have no clue. No markings but fine detail and it is made up of a metal or iron(although a magnet did not stick to it) or something of that nature I believe. It does have weight to it. Please help if you can thanks

p.s. i believe that is a turban or a crown on his head... and yes it is damaged as it was found.OH I ALMOST FORGOT!! there was a sword also found near it but its with my grandmother. sigh but i may be able to get some pictures for you guys!

[mariok54]

Hi,
Give it a bit of a clean on one of the broken edges and see what colour the material is. That should tell you whether it is bronze or spelter. If it is spelter then it will have virtually no value. If it is bronze then it could still have some value, other than the scrap value, and the value would depend upon the actual artist , scarcity of piece and so on.

When you say 'sword' I imagine that you mean a full size one, and not from the statue?

[edande]

yes full size. It has that hook curve shape goldish color handle similar to a civil war sword but I do not want to jump ahead of myself but thank you for that information!!

[mariok54]

The images are a little blurred... The warrior could possibly be Tartar?

Look forward to seeing the sword 

[KC]

Wish I could see it better.  The pic is slightly blurred and won't enlarge as is on the site.  When I enlarge on another program it blurs even more.

Could you perhaps try for a clearer pic?  Thanks!

Very interesting!!!!!

[waywardangler]

I enlarged it to 2:1, sharpened it a bit, and messed with the contrast a little.  This is a little better...

[edande]

hmm I never thought of that! Have any idea where I could possibly find this or may it be one of a kind? I've looked but still have not came across one. Here are some better pictures and you can click them for larger..sorry about the first ones..those were cell phone pictures



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[talesofthesevenseas]

What a cool thing to find in the woods! I'm betting that any artist's signature or branding was on the base that is now gone. I'm guessing you've already looked under the horse's belly for a signature. The only thing I can really add is that the horse looks to be an Arabian. They typically have a "dish" profile with a small, delicate muzzle and the tassles/fringe on the bridle and saddle are part of traditional Arabian horse costuming. Arabian costume competitions are still part of Arabian horse shows today. Here's some examples:

[talesofthesevenseas]

Hey I think a Tartar warrior may be correct- Look at this VERY similar statue of a Tartar war horse, about halfway down this blog:

http://theperemechlounge.blogspot.com/2009_08_01_archive.html

And this Christies auction for a statue of a Tartar Warrior checking his horse. $6K was the price realized, FYI:

http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?pos=4&intObjectID=4073486&sid=

[mart]

Looking at the close up view,, looks like the upraised hand might have held a sword.

[mariok54]

From the new pics it looks like it could be the remains of a bronze piece, although still impossible to say with any certainty ... spelter is incredibly fragile, and normally leaves a very pale/white edge when shattered (hence the suggestion to clean a fractured edge). I'm sticking with my original thoughts of him being a Tartar or from that region, especially after seeing Tales's post. Origin is probably French, but as Tales said, the signature probably disappeared with the base.
Interesting piece.

[Sara Finn]

I'm just guessing here, but thought I'd add the possibility that this metal object may have been part of a figural mantle clock.
 

[waywardangler]

Only time will tell.   

[KC]

Definitely ornamental and a really really neat find!

Would need to find out composition of item to even fathom whether it was originally a sculptured bronze that the base is broken off or that it was from an ornate mantle piece.

Irregardless, you could clean this puppy up and even remount it!

Believe Tartan as well!

[talesofthesevenseas]

 I was thinking that it would look really cool mounted too. Maybe on a natural wood base that is in a natural form, like they mount bits of other broken artifacts? It could look very cool like that!