Indian Panel with Two Carved Wooden Horse Heads

Two horses, no bodies, and a long stretch of fretwork between them.

This panel with two carved wooden horse heads comes from Maharashtra, India, and dates to the late 19th century. It is teakwood. Carved timber was a mark of standing on traditional houses in western India, where brackets, eaves and friezes gave a family's wealth a public face. Stylized horse heads with pointed ears curve up at either end. Between them runs a pierced band of interlaced tracery and hanging bell shapes, with a row of small drop finials below. Fifty-nine inches wide and 18 high.

Neither horse has moved toward the other.