Executed in 2003, 'Rats on Safe' is a rare and remarkable early work by Banksy, combining his iconic stencilled imagery with an object of both symbolic and functional weight. Employing the surface of an industrial steel safe as his canvas, Banksy transforms a utilitarian strongbox into a stage for his most enduring protagonists: the rats.

Within Banksy’s visual lexicon, rats are far more than vermin - they are avatars of resistance, cunning, and survival. Emerging from the cracks of the city, they thrive in the margins, embodying the persistence of the overlooked and the disobedience of the powerless. In 'Rats on Safe', one rat clambers up the door, stretching to seize the handle, while another crouches above the dial in a sly, watchful pose. Together they act as a band of infiltrators, threatening to undo the very mechanism designed to guard wealth and control.

The choice of a safe as medium is particularly resonant. Designed to secure, contain and conceal value, it becomes the perfect foil for Banksy’s verminous intruders - a satirical commentary on secrecy, accumulation, and the fragility of authority. The juxtaposition of stencilled rats against the cold, timeworn steel collapses distinctions between high and low, permanence and impermanence, order and anarchy, creating the stage for subversion, irony and play.

Dating from the early 2000s - a formative period when Banksy codified many of the motifs that would define his practice - 'Rats on Safe' extends beyond the wall and into sculptural form. Authenticated by Pest Control Office, the work is not only a singular example of Banksy’s wit and critique but also a powerful testament to the rat’s central place within his oeuvre: a persistent emblem of anarchy, survival, and subversive humour.

This work is photographed and is featured in Banksy's own book, 'Wall and Piece' ['Wall and Piece' by Banksy, 2005, first edition, p.86] and comes complete with the combination numbers.