Painted Wooden Hand Carved Folk Art New England Soldier Whirligig

Circa 1890-1910: This handsome and expertly carved blue-eyed soldier whirligig stands just under 9" tall with its propellers at 19" end to end and comes to you in its striking original four color paint decoration of red, blue, beige, and black. The soldier's hat has a delicately pinstriped red top rim with its little red medallion, and the artist even took the time to add the detail of a red stripe on the sentry's pantlegs. Clearly, the anonymous carver was incredibly skillfull as is evidenced by the long, thin, and graceful propellers with chamfered edges, the facial features, the contoured jacket, the delineation of the legs, the carved and painted socks and shoes, and the round based on which our folk art soldier is forever perched. The paint is absolutely original, and there are even a few spatters of the beige propeller paint on the back of soldier's jacket. Note that this is one of two museum quality whirligigs we are offering by the same as yet unkown carver. Both of these whirligigs are so skillfully wrought that surely there must be others out there. Perhaps a folk art scholar will one day identify this superb folk artist's work and pull their name from the long annals of American history. This polychromatic paint decorated whirligig comes to you with its modern museum stand and is sure to be a highlight in any collection of antique American folk art.

One of two whirligigs made by the same anonymous carver. See other green soldier whirligig »