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Lot 72AR

Dame Elisabeth Frink R.A.
(British, 1930-1993)
Lying Down Water Buffalo Maquette 31.4 cm. (12 3/8 in.) long

28 May 2014, 14:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £15,000 inc. premium

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Dame Elisabeth Frink R.A. (British, 1930-1993)

Lying Down Water Buffalo Maquette
signed and numbered 'Frink/AC' (underneath)
bronze with a brown patina
31.4 cm. (12 3/8 in.) long
Conceived in 1988, an artist's cast aside from an edition of 9

Footnotes

Provenance
The Artist, by whom gifted to the present owner, February 1991
Private Collection, U.K.

Exhibited
Exchange Square, Hong Kong, Elisabeth Frink: Sculpture & Drawing, 31 January-31 March 1989, as part of the Hong Kong Festival (another cast)

Literature
Edward Lucie-Smith (ed.), Elisabeth Frink; Sculpture since 1984 and Drawings, Art Books International, London, 1994, p.37 & p.187, cat.no.SC39 (ill.b&w, another cast)
Annette Ratuszniak (ed.), Elisabeth Frink; Catalogue Raisonné of Sculpture 1947-93, Lund Humphries, Farnham, 2013, p.178, cat.no.365 (ill.b&w, another cast)

The present work closely relates to one of a pair of monumental works, Standing Buffalo and Lying Down Buffalo (1987-88), commissioned by the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank for their Hong Kong headquarters. As was often the case in the artist's approach Frink looked back to an ancient artifact as a source of inspiration, in this instance a large carved jade recumbent buffalo from the Song Dynasty.

Although true to the overall form of the monumental works, the maquettes are more impressionistic in their moulding, retaining the finger and tool marks of their crafting in keeping with Frink's familiar style. As Edward Lucie-Smith suggests, the larger works seem to have been tamed in style for the Hong Kong audience who were relatively unfamiliar with Frink's work.

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