Casgliadau Arlein

Toy donkey on wheels. Brown stuffed donkey with light-brown leather harness on head and brown leather saddle, nailed to green-painted wooden base which is fitted with 4 unpainted wheels.

The donkey is covered with brown felted fabric (raised-nap woollen yarns held in a twill-weave structure with cellulosic yarns [S-twist]). It has an understructure of wood: 4 legs and the base of its belly and is otherwise stuffed with stiff wood shaving. The harness consists of 3 narrow (w = 0.6cm) strips of light brown leather which are held in place by 4 nails (diameter = c. 0.55cm). The eyes are made from nails. The ears are lined with a cellulosic tabby woven fabric which has a brown coating. The saddle is made from a rectangular piece of leather (L 2.8 x W 2.5cm) which is held in position by a 0.8cm wide leather belt. Saddle and belt are fixed in position by a nail in the centre of the donkey's back and the lower ends of the belt, which don't quite meet on the underside of the belly, are also each secured by a nail. A small wedge of leather (0.8cm long, 0.2cm deep) is cut away from the rear edge of the leather piece from which the saddle is made. The donkey's tail is made from a rolled piece of the same brown fabric. Its upper end is inserted onto a pin protruding from a hole in the donkey's rear. Wooden base = L15.4 x W6.6 x H0.8cm; upper and side surfaces are painted green. 2 wooden blocks L6.2 x 1.4 x 1.7 have been adhered width-ways underneath front and rear ends of base (c.0.8cm in from the edges). 4 wooden wheels (W= 1.2cm) have been attached to those blocks with thick nails (diameter of heads = 0.6cm). The adhesive of the blocks appears to have failed in the past and they were re-adhered, in addition to using nails (2 on the front, driven in from underneath, and one on the back, driven through from the upper surface of the wooden base - this one went in at an angle and now protrudes from the block). Donkey has been attached to the base using nails. Additional nails (c.6) appear to have been driven into the legs from underneath the wooden base at a later stage - one of these misses the leg and protrudes from the upper surface of the wooden base.