The Crucifixion

Details

David Jones (1895-1974)
The Crucifixion
boxwood, unique
10 in. (25.4 cm.) high
Carved circa 1925.

Provenance

with Anthony d'Offay, London, where purchased by the previous owner's mother, and by descent.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 6 June 2008, lot 141, where purchased by the present owner.

Literature

J. Miles and D. Shiel, David Jones The Maker Unmade, Bridgend, 1995, pp. 80, 297, no. 5 (Carvings), illustrated.

Special notice

Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent.

Brought to you by

Pippa Jacomb

pjacomb@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 5189

Lot Essay

'In the mid 1960s, David Jones made a number of small end-grain boxwood carvings, "things which alone would place him in the first rank of modern artists" (Eric Gill, Last Essays, London, 1942, p. 151). This was a natural extension of wood-engraving, indeed it is probable that several of the carvings were made from discarded blocks. Jones liked working on this small scale, accommodating to the hand. The carvings were not intended for sale or for exhibition, and none appears to have been made after the 1920s' (Exhibition catalogue, David Jones, London, Tate Gallery, 1981, p. 77).

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