Vintage Hand Cut Wooden Folk Art Ornament of Horse and Rider

While not Native American made, this hand-cut and hand-painted wooden ornament is charming as can be. A folk art piece, the ornament depicts a horse and rider similar to some drawn by Southern and Northern Cheyenne in the Maffet Ledger. 

In fact, the large silhouette carries the long lines you see in many old Plains ledger drawings. It perfectly captures the galloping horse and rider in motion. The paint is simple and flat and allows the wood to form the horse's body. 

The ornament was clearly created by someone who studied ledger imagery and was able to translate it wonderfully into a wooden folk art piece. Its creator went by the last name Wogner (signed), and it's dated 1983. Painted on both sides.

This interesting ornament is from the personal Christmas decor collection of Native American art dealer, collector and scholar Martha Hopkins Struever. You can see why she'd fall for it and hang it from her tree for decades.

It measures 7 1/2" x 4 3/4".