Happy musical monk.

[still_looking]

ANRI carvings, lots of information out there

similar characters under buddy sets on this site
http://www.anricarvings.com/

S_L

[Maggie.]

Am I correct in thinking that what we are finding are all wooden monks? GS is pretty sure that hers is of lightweight pottery.

[Greensleeves]

Thanks for those links Jan and SL.  One problem is that the little fellow isn't made of wood.  He looks as though he is but he is made of some kind of light ceramic, I think, or resin or .... I don't know what.  I must get a decent photo of the base and post it so you can see what I mean.  It is almost like larva!

[Maggie.]

Sincere apols for breaking a rule at #3 .......... must be all this sunshine 

[trystan]

Maggie - you're a star. Hopefully we'll get a response from the seller (they're more likely to sell it if there's a picture of it on here too)
Trystan

[Maggie.]

That's what I thought Trystan ........ thought I was doing him a favour     

GS - am I correct that he is around 7" in height?

[Greensleeves]

He is fractionally under 5" in height, Maggie.

[youngtug]

When you say the base looks like lava I take it that it as broken open bubbles showing. This usually means that the object as been cast, and in things like this it could be plaster or shellac and some other sort of resin. If it was plaster I would go with plaster being most likely as the resins are usually used to fake ivory. It could be bone, the end of the bone can become spongy to look at.

[Greensleeves]

How very interesting YT - thanks for that.  It certainly looks like burst bubbles to me but there is a lot of wear on the base.  I think if it had been plaster the sea would have finished it off since it was actually in the water when it was found.  Any idea what sort of period they used shellac/resins for casting?  It is quite light - as light as wood - but it certainly isn't wood.