THOMAS GNOMEMAN WHITTAKER PAIR OF MONKS HEAD OAK BOOKENDS

Thomas Gnomeman Whittaker Pair of Oak Bookends with find detailed carvings of a monks head to each bookend and each having a recessed carved gnome signature

Excellent condition throughout with good colour

Size; height 17 cm, width 10 cm, depth 11cm

Circa 1950

Provenance: Originally purchased by the local parish priest and by repute it took Thomas 3 years to complete the commision.

Purchased by us from his brother.

SOLD

Biography: Tom Whittaker circa 1910-1991 lived and worked in Littlebeck near Whitby after studying in his native York and with craftsmen in Germany and Switzerland.
He used only English Oak and his trademark was to carve a little woodland gnome into each and every piece of furniture he made. Legend has it that a gnome is born every time an acorn sprouts and then that gnome will guard that tree throughout its life
Tom Whittaker the Gnome Man of Littlebecks work is highly recognised his Vulnerata statue of the wounded Virgin commissioned by the monastery of Valladolid replaced a figure defaced by Elizabethan sailors during a piratical raid is one of his noted works.
Tom Whittaker died in 1991 his business ended and his workshop was converted into a private house
Of all the Woodcarvers and furniture makers of North Yorkshire the Gnome mans work is highly sought after.
See also http://www.britishpathe.com/video/gnome-man/