Indian Carved Panel Depicting Two Horse Heads

Two horses look out from the wall. The building they once guarded is anyone's guess.

This carved panel depicting two horse heads comes from Gujarat, India, 19th century, cut from Burmese teakwood. Gujarat's merchants built timber houses with heavily carved fronts, using teak shipped across the Indian Ocean, and fittings like this were probably part of that tradition. Two scaled, swan-breasted horse heads project from the face. Lattice panels sit behind them, above a row of small turned balusters. Traces of blue paint cling to the high points. Fifty-nine inches wide and sixteen high.

It has the look of a house that took its front door seriously.