A very attractive and highly collectable vintage 'Mouse' Ashtray designed by Robert 'Mouseman' Thompson, and likely made by him or one of his early apprenticed craftsmen.
Robert Thompson was one of the finest craftsmen ever to work in oak. He was born in 1876 and began work as a wheelwright in the village of Kilburn in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales. He moved on to carving furniture and was known as ‘The Mouseman’ because he ‘signed’ each of his pieces with a small carved mouse. On small pieces (like the cheeseboard!) it is easy to spot but one of the charms of his larger pieces like dressers and wardrobes is trying to find where the little mouse is hiding. The mouse took on average 45 minutes to carve.
This piece is distinguishable from later and modern (post 1950) era pieces because of the fine detail, high arched back and long tail to the mouse. However it must date after 1930 when the front legs were ommitted from all his mouse 'signatures' because they had a habit of breaking off! It has a wonderful patina (and some dirt) which could only accumulate through age and regular polishing. Fortunately there is no burning or scorching of the bowl, and we can only surmise that this has never actually been used as an ashtray.
A beautiful and very collectable item which would grace any collection.
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