Pair of dummy board ‘soldiers’, Continental 18th century

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Handsome pair of Continental ‘Dummy Board’ soldiers, modelled standing with spear & shield, a breastplate over their tunics and a plumed helm on their heads, on a stone block plinth base.
Continental,
18th century

149 and 151 cm tall

Trade label on one strut “Kunstsalon Banger/ Wiesbaden Taunusstr. 6.”

The ‘Art Salon Banger’ in Wiesbaden, just west of Frankfurt was a gallery selling fine art in the early 20th century .

signs of age & minor structural faults evident, slight loss to shoulder of one, paint surface with loss & minor re-touching evident.

‘Dummy Boards’ , also known as Fireside Companions, were a fashionable item for those with money from the early 17th century until the 19th century. Highly decorative, they may have been for ‘security’ in the case of these soldiers, but as others are children and servants, perhaps they were merely fashionable ‘companions’ to make the inhabitants of the big houses feel less lonely!

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