Mouseman carved monk, £6000 at Tennants.
The 10½in (27cm) tall figure of a monk holding the Bible and a beer, with the carved mouse trademark hiding up his sleeve, was a one-off private commission during the 1950s.
The framed working drawing was inscribed Suggestion for ‘Merry Monk’ figure on Newel Post’, Growing from top of Newel Post, Robert Thompson’s Craftsmen Ltd., Kilburn York.
Pitched at £2000-3000, the figure sold to a UK collector at £6000.
The ever-popular carved or adzed oak productions by Mouseman and his followers, the Critters, accounted for almost half of the 221 lots at the June 17 sale at Leyburn sale but there were major names represented in other categories.
Rie bowl
Lucie Rie bowl, £3500 at Tennants.
Most notably five pieces by Dame Lucie Rie among the ceramics were led by a 5in (13cm) diameter porcelain footed bowl, covered in a green glaze and with the impressed LR mark.
It suffered a chip to the rim but, against a £600-800 estimate, it went to a US collector at £3500.
