Wonderful Old Carved Balancing Man cloth book I found this painted wood

I found this painted wood sculpture of a seal or sea lion balancing a ball at the estate sale of an artist

Good structural condition and really a beautiful thing

Perhaps it was a gift to a shoemaker

especially after the Civil War

The giraffe has jointed legs as well as nails for horns and tail (painted with the same pattern detail as the rest of him)

Wonderful Old Carved Balancing Man cloth book I found this painted woodI love this one so much, including for the fact that it feels pretty existential to me, with this carved, jointed figure suspended forever at the center of this long arching twig, weighted with chunks of wood at either end. I think perhaps the game is to find the exact position of the figure that will counterweight the wooden bits on the ends and allow him to balance in the air while they sit flush to the surface of a table, but really there are sorts