‘Cavallino Rampante’ on tyre bronze

A highly unusual and attractive bronze Ferrari Cavallino Rampante (‘Prancing Horse’), the figure set in a plinth formed from a stylised cast bronze Ferrari treaded tyre. Italian, circa 1980.

Height overall: 9 inches (23 cm).

In 1923, Enzo Ferrari won a race at the Savio racetrack, following which he met Countess Paolina, mother of the late Count Francesco Baracca, Italy’s greatest WWI flying ace, who used to paint a prancing horse on the side of his planes.

The Countess suggested to Enzo that painting a similar design on his cars would bring good fortune, and so Enzo adopted the prancing horse design in black, and set it against a canary yellow background, the colour of Modena, his birthplace. The Cavallino Rampante has been the official symbol of the Scuderia Ferrari since 1929.

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