A rare 1930s Robert 'Mouseman' Thompson chapel chair with an exceptionally well carved fleur de lis on the back panel. In Christianity, the three petals on the fleur de lis represent the Holy Trinity - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Quite unusual to find a fleur de lis on a Mouseman piece, but very fitting given that the chair was bespoke made for a chapel or church. It is a wonderful dark oak colour with fantastic patination. The early signature mouse has been carved on the left-hand side front leg. 
 
The condition is very good with just wear and tear commensurate with a chair that has been used daily for almost 100 years - small chips and faint stains (which would polish out). A bit of glue can be seen on one stretcher but there is no movement in the joints, it's a good sturdy chair that can still be used today. There are some lovely natural knots 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. That gave him the idea to register the mouse as a trademark, which he went on to do in 1931. Since then most Mouseman pieces bear the little carved mouse signature which people have really grown to love.