Bonhams 1793 : Anton van Wouw (South African, 1862-1945) The hammer worker 13 x 14 x 5cm (5 1/8 x 5 1/2 x 1 15/16in) (not including base)

The hammer worker
signed and inscribed 'A. van Wouw' (lower right) and inscribed 'FOUNDRY. G. MASSA. ROMA' (to reverse)
bronze
13 x 14 x 5cm (5 1/8 x 5 1/2 x 1 15/16in) (not including base)

Sold for £15,000 inc. premium

Footnotes

PROVENANCE:
Pieter Wenning Gallery, Johannesburg
Thence by descent to the current owner

LITERATURE:
A.E. Duffey, Anton van Wouw: The Smaller Works, (Pretoria, 2008), another edition illustrated p. 89

In this popular sculpture, an African miner sits beneath an overhanging rock ledge, chiselling the surface in front of him. Van Wouw creates a compelling, self-contained scene, complete with the miner's tools and necessities: hammer, chisel, candle, haversack and water bottle.

There are two versions of The hammer worker: a smaller version and a larger one which is 60cm high. The present lot is a cast of the smaller version, with the right foot positioned slightly differently to the larger one. A possible explanation for having created this smaller version is "because of its [the larger version's] price [which] has always, even during the artist's lifetime, been exceptionally high".

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
A.E. Duffey, Anton van Wouw: The Smaller Works, (Pretoria, 2008), p.89