Hubert Donald Macgeoch Gilbert (1900-1961) was the son and collaborator of Walter Gilbert, the sculptor. He also studied and worked with Alfred Gilbert (it has been suggested that they were second cousins) and at the principal British Art Schools. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1925 to 1957, at the Royal Hibernian Academy and at the Paris Salon. Gilbert is best known for his animal and decorative work, though he specialised also in mythological and portrait sculpture. The present relief, dating from the end of his career, reveals his mastery of the decorative and linear in sculpture. The exotic birds are stylised and integrated in a complex framework with a pleasing rhythmic effect. Much of Gilbert's bronze work was cast by the Singer Foundry, and it is likely that this finely executed relief was cast there too.