Rare mouseman furniture goes under the hammer
IN the league of Yorkshire craftsmen, Robert “Mouseman” Thompson is perhaps second favourite after Thomas Chippendale.
An enormous collection of his furniture, maybe the biggest ever assembled, is now to go under the hammer at Tennants Auctioneers, Leyburn, from July 17-19.
It has all come from Leeds Girls’ High School which is clearing out its Headingley buildings before moving to Leeds Grammar School at Alwoodley in September.
And the senior library is the treasure trove of Mouseman furniture.
The library was funded by a generous donation from the Tetley family and cost ￡1,222 – enough to buy four houses in those days.
This sum will fund a bursary to help girls get into the new Grammar School at Leeds from the age of 11.
The pieces include fitted bookcases, free-standing bookcases, door surrounds, panels, pen trays (the cheapest items at ï¿¡80), 16 tables, 87 chairs, an alcove seat, a book trolley, radiator covers, cupboards, inkwells, book troughs, magazine cabinets and even the library steps.
A few pieces will be transferred to the enlarged grammar school for posterity. They include an inscribed chair, two notice boards and a clock.
Diane Sinnott, Head of Decorative Arts for Tennants, expects many tables and chairs to end up in domestic kitchens and may well be used by children to do their homework.
“It is such pleasing furniture,” she said, “not least because of the little mouse carved into every piece.”
According to legend Thompson’s trademark came about by accident during a conversation with a colleague about him being “poor as a church mouse”.
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