£7,560
Auction: 19 April 2023 at 11:00 BST
bronze, signed and dated in the bronze PILKINGTON JACKSON/ 1925, raised on a stepped slate plinth
Provenance: Stanley Cursiter and by descent
Note: The sculptor Charles Pilkington Jackson set up his first studio in 1912 with the founder William McDonald. Commissions included collaborations with Sir Frank Mears and Sir Robert Lorimer. After the First World War, he set up on his own at 12, Church Lane, Edinburgh (now Gloucester Lane).
During the 1920s Pilkington Jackson principally worked on memorials, among these the Elsie Inglis Memorial with Sir Frank Mears in 1922 and the Alloa War Memorial with Sir Robert Lorimer in 1925. He also produced some portraiture and allegorical work during this period including the current lot. 'Dawn' was cast by McDonald and Creswick between July 24th and March 1925, and the orb of the sun was cast separately. The marble base was supplied by Galbraith and Winton. Never on the open market before now this is the only example of this figure known to have been cast. The figure was given by Pilkington Jackson to the Orcadian artist Stanley Cursiter, in exchange for two oil paintings which the artist produced of Pilkington Jackson's studio at 12, Church Lane.
The work of Carl Milles was an important influence on Pilkington Jackson, who visited the Swedish sculptor in 1929. After the Second World War, he continued to work, his career culminating in the monumental sculpture The Bruce at Bannockburn, cast in 1964.