BY SIR WILLIAM REID DICK (1879-1961), CIRCA 1930

Details

A LEAD FOUNTAIN FOUNTAIN GROUP OF A BOY WITH A FROG
BY SIR WILLIAM REID DICK (1879-1961), CIRCA 1930
26 ¾ in. (68 cm.) high; 19 ½ in. (49.5 cm.) diameter at base

Provenance

By repute, bought from Harrods in the 1930s.
Castlecomer House, County Kilkenny, Ireland, where displayed in the formal gardens designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.
Thence by descent, until recently acquired by the present owner.

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. VAT rate of 20% is payable on hammer price and buyer's premium Specified lots (sold and unsold) marked with a filled square not collected from Christie’s by 5.00 pm on the day of the sale will, at our option, be removed to Cadogan Tate. Christie’s will inform you if the lot has been sent offsite. Our removal and storage of the lot is subject to the terms and conditions of storage which can be found at Christies.com/storage. Please call Christie’s Client Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Cadogan Tate Ltd. All collections will be by pre-booked appointment only. Tel: +44 (0)20 7839 9060 Email: cscollectionsuk@christies.com. If the lot remains at Christie’s it will be available for collection on any working day 9.00 am to 5.00 pm. Lots are not available for collection at weekends.

Lot Essay

Boy with frog dates from the early 1900s when Reid Dick showed deference to the leading lights of the New Sculpture movement, notably in his Femina Victrix which is a homage to Leighton’s Athlete Wrestling with a Python. Boy with Frog was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1910 ‘N°1916 The Frog – statuette, bronze’ and again in 1931 ‘N° 1642 ‘Model for Fountain in bronze’. The latter being the example cast for the fountain in Queen Mary’s Gardens, Regent's Park, where it remains today. A portrait by Philippe Ledoux of Sir William Reid Dick in his studio exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1934 shows a version of Boy with Frog beside the sculptor himself – which could be the present lead example as it looks to be light grey in colour. The reputed provenance dates the present lead statue to the 1930s. A stone version was commissioned in the 1950s by the American millionaire and art collector Huntington Hartford (D. Wardleworth, William Reid Dick, Sculptor, Surrey, 2013, p. 178).

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