Goodwill Hunting: Tom, the Piper's Son, $8.00

There are so many interesting things about this piece that I found at the Goodwill store on Padonia Road last autumn that I don't know where to start! It's made of wood, measuring about 8 1/2 inches wide by 12 inches high, and it features a young boy running with a piglet tucked under his left arm. Both characters are adorable, especially the piglet, who looks thrilled. His hooves and curlicue tail are all stretched out, as though he imagines he is flying through the air. The craftsmanship involved in its creation--through a process called marquetry--makes this panel even more intriguing.

I counted at least 42 separately cut, individually painted pieces of wood veneer in this design. Wow! Even details like the boy's eyebrows, and the tiny buttons on the cuffs of his jacket, were cut and placed in custom-made recessions in the underlying panel.

Without any textual clues on the front or back of this piece to help me understand the subject, I turned to Google. Searching for "boy running with pig" turned up an old children's nursery rhyme that I believe this piece illustrates. It goes like this:

Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son
Stole a pig and away did run
The pig was eat
And Tom was beat
And Tom went crying down the street

At first I was shocked to think that this innocent looking boy with his cute green short trousers and jacket (not to mention his fastidious, how-much-Brylcreem-did-that-take? side part) is whisking this pig away only to turn it into bacon. Turns out a "pig" is a kind of pastry, sort of like a miniature apple pie, which means this piece of art is also a visual pun.

Even better: the nursery rhyme served as inspiration for a Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon meant to spoof Dragnet, one of my favorite shows to watch as a kid! Thrift Art simply doesn't get any better than this.