Canine Curios

In this feature I focus on nine very different items, six of which have various uses connected to dogs and three of which are in the form of man’s best friend.

The first of the three are Black Forest nutcrackers made circa 1870. Although universally referred to as “Black Forest,” virtually all these carvings were done in Switzerland. The tradition goes back to 1816, when a man named Christian Fischer hit upon the idea of making simple wooden objects specifically for tourists, which he sold by Giessback Falls, an attraction close to Brienz. By the end of the century, it had become a major industry in the area, with an estimated 2,000 carvers working.

By the middle years of the century what started out simply as “folk art” had been developed by some of the more skilled carvers into art of great merit. The most outstanding pieces were exhibited at the great exhibitions of the age, and Queen Victoria was among those who purchased pieces.

Among the smaller pieces carved were nutcrackers with heads that have articulated jaws, and this pair circa 1870, carved and stained in the form of a Mastiff’s head, are particularly rare.

Dummy boards are painted and shaped life-size flat wooden figures that were highly fashionable during the 18th and 19th centuries among European elite, especially the English and Dutch. They were often placed in corners of rooms, stairways or hallways to surprise visitors.

The quality was often quite high, as with the early one here of a large dog with cropped ears that was painted on canvas and laid onto a pine board. Probably Italian in origin, it was priced at £7.500 with Matthew Holden Works of Art.

The use of pottery and bronze oil lamps dates back thousands of years, but was at its most popular during the Greek and Roman periods. The Greek bronze example here dates to around 400 BC and is of a standard form. The Greyhound’s ears act as a handle; oil would have been poured into the top of the dog’s head, with a wick for lighting the lamp through the back of the head of the hare the Greyhound is holding.

From as early as the Greek and Roman periods, large Mastiff-type breeds would be strapped with armor and spiked collars and sent into battle to attack the enemy. Large armor-clad breeds were used extensively by Spanish conquistadors against Native Americans.

This example, which dates to about the 17th Century, was once in the armory of Wartburg Castle in Eisenach, Germany, and consists of a thick “eyelet” coat made, like some of the jackets of the period, of several thicknesses of canvas perforated and stitched together with close-set button-holing of linen thread, the stitching giving additional stiffness to the coat and the holes supplying ventilation.

By the second half of the 19th Century, dog coats had become very elaborate — probably the most elaborate they have ever been, both in design and decoration. They were far removed from the armor of earlier centuries. The design here was one that was designed for show dogs and was considered in workmanship and design to be perfection. It was arrived at after much study and many trials.

The coat was put on the dog’s back before the breast-cloth and buckled in front of the chest. The breast-cloth was then put over the dog’s head and buckled to the coat. It was suggested that in very warm weather the breast-cloth was dispensed with; but on journeys – no heated vehicles in those days, just very cold trains or carriages – or in cold draughty shows, the breast plate should be worn. A slit in the top of the coat at the base of the neck was provided for the ring of the collar to go through. Sadly, I doubt if any of these have survived.

The mention of carriages brings me to the design for a mid-19th-Century carriage to be used for transporting Greyhounds to coursing meetings. It was designed to carry nine or 10 dogs in two compartments at the rear, one above the other. At the front was a seat for the driver with a canvas hood that could have been pulled forward in wet weather. The carriage would have been pulled by a large pony or small horse. In the second half of the 19th Century, coursing meetings were some of the most popular and well supported of all sporting events, attracting thousands, for they were attended by all classes of society.

Dogs played a major role as draught dogs in Europe in the 19th and early 20th centuries carrying mostly provisions — meat, fruit, vegetables and milk. Switzerland and Belgium were the two countries to employ dogs the most, and the harness here is from Belgium. Made toward the end of the 19th Century, this well-preserved harness has a collar of wrought iron and rolled hand-stitched leather, with leather traces and girth attached. It was once in the collection of Comte Geoffroy de Beauffort in Brussels, an authority on draught dogs.

In total contrast to the Belgium harness is the collar from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, once known as the Belgium Congo, where some of the worst atrocities were committed by colonizers. It is made of nut shells strung together on a leather collar and would have been worn by hunting dogs, most likely Basenjis. The noise made by the nuts clanging together would have alerted the hunters as to where the dogs were so they could get within range to dispatch by spear whatever was being hunted.

The years between the two Great Wars saw greater professionalism appearing in the world of show dogs, particularly in the trimmed Terrier breeds, where top winners crossed the Atlantic for large sums of money.

The trimming knife here has an imitation ivory handle in a faux shagreen-covered wooden box, complete with horsehide strop for sharpening the razor. It was once owned by Brigadier John Stubbs, who had been a medical officer in World War I, for trimming his Dandie Dinmont Terriers. As a doctor in general practice his dogs were with him in his surgery. Any child that went in was first given a biscuit to give to one of the Dandies.