An incredibly rare 1930s Robert 'Mouseman' Thompson light burr oak chair with a Yorkshire rose carved onto the back panel. It is a beautiful dark oak colour with excellent patina. It is a bespoke made, one-off chair with the signature mouse carved on the front right-hand side leg. 
 
The condition is very good with just wear and tear commensurate with a chair that has been used almost daily for almost 100 years - small chips, faint stains (which would polish out), a couple of age-related, natural cracks etc. There is no movement in the joints, it's a good sturdy chair that can still be used today. There are some lovely burrs in the oak here and there which really add charm to the piece and being a chapel chair, it has a shelf underneath the seat for the bible.
 
The whole chair is adzed, even the legs, which is quite rare. After the mid 1940s Mouseman stopped fully adzing chairs due to the second world war. Unfortunately, some of his craftsmen were killed in action, and he found it difficult to recruit others. So, he began adzing just the back panels to save on time. 
 
The height of the chair measures 90 cm. The width is 45 cm. The depth is 45 cm. The seat height is 47 cm.
 
All in all, it is a stunning, unique, Mouseman piece. It came from a chapel in Yorkshire and is in original, unrestored condition. 
 
It is commonly known that a lot of Robert 'Mouseman' Thompson's work was devoted to the inside furnishing of churches. The famous mouse signature came about when he was carving a church cornice with one of his craftsmen. In a letter to Revd. John H. W. Fisher, dated 10th February 1949, he wrote -
 
The origin of the mouse as my mark was almost in the way of being an accident. I and another carver were carving a huge cornice for a screen and he happened to say something about being as poor as a church mouse. I said I'll carve a mouse here and did so, then it struck me, what a lovely trademark. This is about 30 years ago.
 
Extract from The Mouseman of Kilburn. The Story of Robert Thompson and the 'Church Mouse'