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&w=3840&q=75)
&w=3840&q=75)
&w=3840&q=75)
&w=3840&q=75)
&w=3840&q=75)
&w=3840&q=75)
&w=3840&q=75)
Made of solid boxwood. The shaft is carved with a horse’s head in relief. The pommel is decorated with a relief design featuring a club, a diamond, a heart and a spade. One side is engraved and studded with nails to form a presumed metric scale (truncated), subdivided into ten graduations, each 8 mm in length. Forged iron tip.
Early 19th century.
Length: 80 cm.
(Cartouche with monogram subsequently erased, fine patina, minor visible imperfections)
This rare horse-dealer’s staff, carved from a single piece of boxwood, serves as a walking aid, a professional emblem and a possible measuring tool. The carved decoration (a horse’s head in relief and a pommel adorned with the four suits of a deck of cards) evokes the world of fairs, horse markets, bargaining and the social interaction characteristic of the horse dealer’s trade.
The riveted scale, divided according to a decimal system but reduced to 8 mm per unit, does not appear to correspond to any traditional measurement. Rather, it seems to imitate the metric system whilst distorting it, with each apparent “centimetre” being worth only 8 mm. At a time when the metric system had not yet been fully integrated into everyday practice, this truncated scale may have been used for approximate measurements, personal calibration or, more likely in the context of the horse trade, as a ploy likely to give the merchant an advantage during transactions.