This mouse is a purely indulgent object which, when wound, runs around realistically. This object has no function and was purely made to demonstrate wealth and to provide amusement.

The mouse was purchased by Josephine Bowes from a London dealer on 12 May 1871. The piece cost four times the price of a famous painting by El Greco that the couple also purchased. To spend such a large sum of money on an object tells us how well they regarded the object.

The mouse is approximately life-size and can be admired for its craftsmanship. The piece is only 11cm long, including the tail. It is made of gold, realistically modelled, and is covered in wavy stripes of black enamel, with irregularly placed spots of blue enamel and pearls of varying sizes. The mouse's whiskers are gold wire and the eyes are polished garnet (a red stone). The four legs and feet of gold contain a mechanism which make it move. It is thought that the mouse was made in Switzerland around 1810.