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Description:	A hand carved and painted wooden flying bird mobile, a Mallard Duck, made by Roy Hewson in his studio in St Erth, Cornwall, England. The Duck is suspended from a wooden hanging bar and is threaded with fine Nylon to connect the pieces, each wing tip has a metal weight and once you pull the fine Nylon hanging underneath the bird it gains momentum and starts to flap its wings. This is a beautiful piece of English folk art by a talented and well known maker. This piece was part of the collection of automata and moving toys owned by Sir Nicholas Goodison, I have included some information about him below. Goodison noted "Hewson's birds show an affinity for precision and fine detail and provide delight in their movements. " Roy Hewson served as an apprentice instrument maker with the aviation division of Negretti and Zambra, one of the oldest instrument making companies. He decided to carve wild birds after graduating at an introductory decorative decoy carving course with Bob Ridges, the professional decoy duck carver, at his Somerset studio. Sir Nicholas Goodison (1934-2021) was a true polymath, as well as having a highly successful career in the financial industry he was also a leading figure in and patron of the Arts. He amassed his collection of sculpture and toys over a 50 year period whilst travelling the world.
Identifying Marks / Makers Marks:	Signed on the wing and with the original label, as shown in the photographs.
Age / date of manufacture:	Purchased from the artist (Roy Hewson) in August 1992.
Size:	The bird measures approximately 29 1/8" (74 cm) across the wings when level, 14 1/8" (36 cm) from beak to tail and is approximately 11 3/4" (30 cm) from the hanging bar to the back of the bird when level.
Condition:	In excellent undamaged original condition, Has an item number written on the underside in pen as it has come from a toy collection (I have not tried to remove this). The box has some scuff marks from storage. Please see the photographs and video.