Featured Help with dating wood carving (potentially of Thomas Cranmer)

Hello all. Long time lurker, first time poster. I recently bought this wood carving from an estate sale of an art collector who specialized in English and Canadian art. There was no information given other than "vintage Medieval scholar." It looks older than vintage to me but I'm still new and learning. After lots of research, my husband and I think this might be a carving of Thomas Cranmer. Just an educated guess based on clothes, face, and the book and scroll.

We'd appreciate if anyone could help us narrow down a date range for this fellow, and/or confirm our id. Thank you!

 

Congratulations on your first post, Katsura, and thank you so much for officially joining us!

I see no signs of wear that would indicate your wall hanging is genuinely old. And it appears to have been washed with color to enhance the appearance of age. These types of medieval carved figures became popular in the 1970s with the advent of mass tourism. Yours is very attractively done. Rather than an individual portrait (e.g. Thomas Cranmer,) he's more likely meant to portray a Medieval scholar in general. If "vintage" Medieval scholar" was the seller's description, it appears to be accurate. (In the world of collecting, "vintage" means less than 100 years old.)

Debora

 

Thank you for your helpful reply, Debora! The details you note are so obvious now--we just got too carried away in our research to see them clearly lol. No matter his recent age, I still really like him and he's going up on the wall by my writing desk.

 

Welcome Katsura
No better place for your scholar than around a writing desk!

 

It may have been salvaged from revival style furniture.

 

The furniture would have had to be pretty recent, given the look and style of the carving. And the salvaging even more recent.

 

Been there, done that!

 

Ditto!