Carved Black Forest Novelty Gnome Match Holder & Striker

This superb small Black Forest hand-carved lime wood novelty match holder features a standing gnome wearing a tall peaked hat, tunic, and long beard. This cheerful fellow is standing with one hand raised with a hole for a match to be placed for display and beside him there is a gnarly tree stump which is hollowed to store matches with a place for striking them which is made from glued fine gravel. This rare and pleasing example is hand signed by the artist and dated 1916 on the underside in ink. Swiss, circa 1916 Height 11cm x width 8.5cm x depth 5.5cm