Antique Carved Wooden Carousel Horse Beloved by Shirley Temple

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52" (132 cm.) l. 56" h. The elaborately carved wooden carousel horse posed as though prancing with rich definition of saddle, parade decorations, and mane was discovered by grown-up Shirley Temple at an antique shop in San Francisco, and served as the inspiration for the design of her carousel-shaped pool house. In an article in "The American Home" magazine of May 1961 featuring the Black home she said, "It may seem a bit fantastic, but it all started when I found that 200-year-old Austrian horse in an antique shop in San Francisco. He was thick with paint and I could hardly wait to get him home and start scraping. I worked for months and removed 30 layers of paint. What I found underneath was worth the effort". She continued, "I got down to the bare wood and found this carving...I sealed the saddle and harness and turned him into a pure white horse. His tail was missing but my daughter Susan came up with an idea. She supplied a bright red ostrich feather the studio wardrobe girl had given her." Included with the horse is a copy of "The American Home" magazine of May 1961.