Kay Bojesen Monkey Sizes: Mini, Small, Medium and Large

Kay Bojesen's Monkey is made in four sizes, and choosing between them has less to do with height than with where the figure will sit and how much room its arms need. The mini closes inside a palm; the large stands 47 cm tall and asks for floor space or a very generous shelf. This comparison puts the four side by side on measurements, wood, colour options and placement.

One design, four scales

Every Monkey is made by Kay Bojesen Denmark in oiled teak and oiled limba, the darker teak carrying the body and limbs and the paler limba the face, ears, hands and feet. Kay Bojesen (1886 to 1958) trained as a silversmith under Georg Jensen and spent his working life arguing that useful things should also be cheerful. The wooden animals are still made to his drawings by Rosendahl Design Group, which is why a mini and a large read as the same character rather than as two related ornaments.

The joints are what separate the Monkey from a carved figure. Arms and legs are built to be posed and can be turned by hand without force, so the same piece can sit with its legs over the edge of a shelf, hang by both hands from a rail, or stand with its arms up. That single feature is what shifts as the size shifts. A mini hooks onto a picture ledge and disappears again; a large one needs a surface deep enough to take its shoulders and heavy enough not to notice 2.25 kg leaning over the front edge.

Monkey mini, small, medium and large compared

One thing to read carefully in the table: the width and depth figures do not scale evenly, because each size is measured with the arms in a set pose. The small is listed wider than it is deep, with the arms out to the sides. The medium is the opposite, narrow across and deep front to back. Height and weight are the numbers to plan around.

Mini and small: shelf edges and a first Monkey

The Monkey mini measures 9.5 cm high, 10 cm wide and 3.5 cm deep and weighs 0.02 kg. At that scale it behaves like punctuation rather than an object: it sits along the front of a bookshelf, on the lip of a picture ledge, on a desk beside a keyboard, or on a kitchen windowsill where a larger figure would block the light. It is also the size that travels well between rooms, which is part of why it collects the widest range of finishes. Alongside teak and limba it is made in dark stained oak and in painted versions: Vintage Blue, Vintage Green, Vintage Yellow, Pink, Light green, Grey and Turquoise. The painted ones read as colour first and wood second, so they suit a nursery or a children's shelf where the natural pair would recede.

The Monkey small is the first size that holds its own on an open shelf. It stands 18.5 cm high, 19.5 cm across and 6.5 cm deep, at 0.17 kg, and those numbers describe a figure with its arms spread. Give it a shelf at eye level or just below and let the arms overhang; hooked over a rail or the edge of a bookcase it reads exactly as intended. Three wood pairings are offered here rather than paint: Teak/Limba, Oak/Maple and Oak/Smoked oak. Oak and maple is the lightest and the calmest of the three against pale walls, oak and smoked oak the most graphic, and teak and limba the version most people picture.

Medium and large: the sizes that hold a room

The Monkey medium teak/limba stands 28 cm high with a listed footprint of 11 cm wide and 29 cm deep, at 0.54 kg. It is made in teak and limba only. This is the size that stops being a shelf detail and starts being furniture: on a sideboard, a mantelpiece or a hall shelf it holds a whole surface on its own, and its weight lets it sit with legs dangling over a front edge without sliding. In a room with tall bookcases it works best around 120 to 150 cm from the floor, where an adult meets it at chest height and a child can still reach an arm.

The Monkey large teak/limba is a different proposition again: 47 cm high, 45 cm across, 15.5 cm deep and 2.25 kg. Those 45 cm are arm span, so a shelf that takes the medium will often not take the large. It is happiest on the floor beside a chair, on a low table, in the corner of a hall next to coats and boots, or seated on a broad step. Given room it becomes the piece people greet on the way in, and children treat it as a companion rather than as something to be looked at.

Wood, colour and living with a Monkey

Wood is a living material, and grain and tone vary from figure to figure, so two Monkeys of the same size are never quite matched. That variation is easiest to enjoy when several sizes stand together: a mini, a small and a medium on the same shelf, in the same teak and limba pairing, make the difference in scale and grain the point of the arrangement. If you are mixing finishes, keep the painted minis for one shelf and the natural woods for another rather than alternating them.

Care is short. Keep the figures away from radiators and out of direct sun, which is what dulls oiled teak fastest. Wipe with a dry, soft cloth and nothing else; none of the sizes is dishwasher safe. Move the arms and legs by hand and without force, and the joints stay firm enough to keep a pose for years.

If you are buying one Monkey, the small is the most useful starting point: enough presence for a shelf, light enough to move, and offered in three wood pairings. If it is a present for a nursery, a painted mini is the easier first piece. If you want the figure that anchors a hall or a sitting room, go to the medium or the large and give it the space its arms ask for. The wider range of animals, birds and Royal Guard figures sits in the Kay Bojesen collection, all of it still made to the same drawings and the same rules about grain, joints and light.