Anything made of leather and relating to the horse or the upholstery of what it pulls was the responsibility of the saddler-saddler: harness, shoulder collar, saddle, the interiors of carriages and other carriages. The golden age of this craft was in the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century.
With the mechanisation of agriculture and the abandonment of the horse as a draught animal, the agricultural part of their production had almost disappeared in the inter-war period. These craftsmen followed the evolution of horse-drawn carriages by upholstering the first automobiles.
Illustrations :
– Photograph of the workshop of the master craftsman-saddler-saddler Robert Beausseron in 1936 in Saint Astier. (Private collection in Hervé Mercier, Saint-Astier, 1900-1950, volume 2, La vie Astérienne, Imprimerie IOTA, 2015)
– Postcard with the front of the Mazière workshop, saddler in Mussidan in the 1930s, located just opposite the Volon car garage, a symbolic image of the transition from one mode of travel to another. (Chica collection ©Musée André Voulgre) 2014.9.359