Fan Favorite A Decorative Mid 20thc Painted Cast Stone Whippet C.1940-50 - Claim Yours [wazxkp1v]

Origin: English
Period: Mid 20thC
Provenance: Unknown
Date: c.1940-50
Height: 16”
Width: 26”
Depth: 10.5”

The beautifully weathered cast stone whippet displaying the original time worn paint and glaze, with the hound being black and having a gold collar, to a plinth base with canted corners, the whole surviving from the second quarter of twentieth century England.

The condition of the whole is pleasing with a good even spread of weathering commensurate with exposure to the elements giving it an evocative all-round character and colour. There are nibbled losses and chips, with the nose having some loss to the tip; please refer to the photographs for a full visual reference.

Probably once part of a pair, there are more modern stone interpretations of the whippet on the market but fewer of this date line and fewer still with such superb original time-worn paintwork and texture; most being bare stone.

Whippets were bred to hunt by sight, coursing game in open areas at high speeds. One can find numerous representations of small greyhound-like hounds in art dating back to Ancient Egyptian times. Pharaohs bred a small sighthound dog related to the greyhound to keep in their palaces, and this dog may be the ancestor of today's Whippets. In medieval England, a small greyhound breed became popular for use as a ratting dog. The first written English use of the word whippet with regard to a type of dog was in 1610.

A highly decorative piece for the garden or indeed the home.