An Arts & Crafts Yorkshire School English Oak Dresser by Bob ‘Wrenman’ Hunter c. 1980. A lovely dresser in the classic Yorkshire School style, offering amply storage, but still in a relatively compact form. Featuring:

• Solid English Oak throughout.

• Top section with panelled back carved acorn brackets scroll feet and carved cornice.

• Hand carved yorkshire rose handles.

• Very well figured quarter-sawn English Oak (quarter-sawing is a way of sawing oak to produce boards with superior strength which also reveals decorative 'medullary rays' in its grain).

• Subtly adzed on visible surfaces (the subtle surface rippling synonymous with Yorkshire School furniture) Adzing does not interfere with use and objects will happy stand steadily on an adzed surface.

• Base section with single plank fielded panels surrounded by rails and stiles joined by blind tenons secured with hand made pegs.

• 2 drawers (made with single plank fronts solid drawer carcasses joined with lap and through dovetails and solid bases).

• Signature carved octagonal feet.

• Sides and back single plank fielded panels surrounded by rails and stiles joined by blind tenons secured with hand made pegs.

Approximate dimensions are:

• Overall Width 1390mm (4 feet 6 1/2 inches).

• Overall Depth 530mm (1 foot 8 3/4 inches).

• Overall Height 1870mm (6 feet 1 1/2 inch).

c. 1980.

Bob ‘Wrenman’ Hunter’s carved wren motif.

Verry good condition with rich colour and grain, original finish, snugly closing doors, smoothly sliding drawers and tight joints, A few minor marks and dints discoverable upon close inspection, although surprisingly few for the age of the item. If you wish to have further specific photographs or talk to us for a more detailed condition report then please do not hesitate to contact us.

Bob 'Wrenman' Hunter (Ex-Mouseman): A Former Robert 'Mouseman' Thompson craftsman known for hand crafted items with the trademark Yorkshire School adzed finish bearing his trademark hand carved wren. He also used a tortoise motif on his rare early pieces.

The most British of woods, that can produce really special results. English oak has been used for hundreds of years to construct everything from sea-going vessels to fine furniture. Although oak grows widely across Europe and North America, craftsmen continue to cherish English oak which grows more slowly than its foreign counterparts giving it strength, durability. Quarter sawn boards are very straight grained and have distinctive growth rings and medullary rays that give a very beautiful effect as well as being renowned for their superior stability and strength.

The Yorkshire School of the Arts & Crafts movement started with Robert 'Mouseman' Thompson's  transformation from jobbing carpenter to master craftsmen. By the mid-1920s he had adopted his trademark mouse (now world renowned as a symbol of quality furniture) and had his own workshop busily employing several men. As the workshop grew and over the years many of the craftsmen have taken their skills and branched out and adopted a trademark of their own, a fox, a lizard, a fish, a rabbit to name but a few, and whilst some have closely stuck to the Mouseman designs others have taken the style and adapted it. Other craftsmen, unconnected to the Mouseman workshop, have also chosen the classic Yorkshire Oak style as their own. Typical Yorkshire school items are in English Oak, with traditional pegged joints and adzed surfaces.