French 18th Century Forged Iron Folk Art Baroque Tavern Sign

Original riveted sheet iron shoemakers shop sign. Unique find, France, circa 1800-1850. Traces of red paint visible. Weathered.

Brilliant and unique shop-sign. A painted grouse made out of sheet iron or zinc that is placed within a hand forged iron frame that is made to hang. France circa 1850-1900 Weathered...

A large carved and polychrome painted tobacconist's figure almost certainly 17th or early 18th century For a related example see Edward H. Pinto, Treen and other Wooden Bygones, Bell and Hyman, London 1969. Page 412, plate 436. Originally this may well have been a tobacconist's shop window figure. For a similar, but slightly earlier unpainted example, see Sotheby's, The W. J. Shepherd collection of treen, 30th November 1983, Lot 393, illustrated in Pinto "Wooden Bygones of Smoking and Snuff Taking", plate 1. Carved wooden figures, often painted, were placed outside tobacconist's shops as signs from the 17th century onwards. The earliest of these figures is the 'black boy' or 'blackamoor'. 'At the sign of the black boy' or 'at the sign of the blackamoor' was a popular address for tobacconists since the early 17th century. The 17th century figures...

This unusual ornamental copper plate was used to write information on it, possibly the menue for a restaurant. We can see traces of writing. The beautifull carving shows birds, leav...