Pendulum figure rider on Braunem

With his pendulum rider, master turner Wolfgang Werner brings the classic pendulum figures of the Erzgebirge on a leisurely trot. When the pendulum is set in motion, the tail and head of the horse rise and fall in unison, while the rider very decoratively maintains his steady seat. Werner's design expertise ensures perfectly balanced movement and expert rein control: it is evident from his mechanical designs, inspired by historical models, that he had originally envisaged becoming an engineer. Born into a long-established Seiffen family of toy makers, Wolfgang Werner ultimately decided to pursue the craft. The turning and turning, carving and grinding is just in his blood, and so he makes his moving constructions - such as swing figures, running animals and these pendulum riders - in careful handwork from the wood of beech, maple, birch and spruce from local forestry.

The fact that a famous wood art developed in the originally densely forested Erzgebirge is not only explained by the availability of the material. As a branch of industry, handicrafts became all the more important as the local mining industry rapidly lost resources and profitability. Folk art slipped into this gap, which mining - no less than Christmas - still shaped with numerous motifs. A center of wood art emerged around Seiffen, where one of the first specialized trade schools was founded in 1853 to promote handicrafts. In the so-called Toy Corner, small and large craft businesses still produce the classics of the folk art of the Erzgebirge: from hoop animals and smoking men to miner figures and nutcrackers to candle arches and wing pyramids.

This product is an example of genuine handicraft; therefore, minor deviations in size and colour may occur.