This is an unusual piece of folk art dating to the late 19th century.
It is inscribed on the back with the carvers initials and the date: 1886.
This is a little wall mounted plaque which has little brass hooks or raised buttons on it - I would imagine that this would be to hang little drawstring bags on in a kitchen or bathroom, rather than having the little hook sections used for coats, as they are not of a sturdy enough construction. It would also be a great place to hang door keys etc - for a fishing buff!
There are a total of five little brass pegs - all of them are firmly attached to the wooden backboard - they are each under 1.5 cm in diameter.
It is a lovely carved piece - as you can see from my photographs.
The decoration is formed from carved oak leaves with little acorn embellishments. In the center section is a sweet little stylised fish decorated with lots of tiny pierced dots.
It is hard to be definite about the origin of this lovely carving - but I would imagine North European in origin - and with the symbol of the fish being quite so prominent - I would hazard a guess at it being Scandinavian in origin.
Dimensions: the overall width is 20 inches (61 cm) and the height is just under 7 inches at the widest points
But certainly a very attractive, and unique, piece of treen - now 120 years old.
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