The Whittler, model 905 from Royal Copenhagen, is a porcelain figurine of a barefoot boy absorbed in carving a point onto a stick. It was modelled by the Danish sculptor Christian Thomsen, who joined the Copenhagen manufactory in 1898 and went on to create more than a hundred figures for it, from fairy-tale characters to animals.
The design is generally dated to 1908 and stayed in the Royal Copenhagen range for decades. Examples with factory marks from the 1960s and early 1970s are still easy to find, so the backstamp on the underside is the place to look when dating an individual piece.
The boy sits on a rocky outcrop in a flat cap and blue jacket, a satchel strap running diagonally across his back, his bare feet resting on a grassy oval base. The painting is restrained and naturalistic: deep and pale blues on the clothing, slate grey on the rocks, mossy greens on the grass and soft peach tones on the skin, all under a glossy glaze that catches the light along the sleeves, knees and cap.
From behind, the cord of the satchel can be seen trailing down the rock, and a moulded signature sits at the rear of the base. Quiet, concentrated and carefully observed, it is a characteristic piece of Danish figural porcelain, offered here as a single example exactly as photographed.
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