Lot 23
ERIC GILL A.R.A. (BRITISH 1882-1940) & PETER CRIBB (BRITISH 1920-1993)
CHRIST FIGURE FOR CRUCIFIX, 1919/1968
Auction: MODERN MADE | Lots 1 - 422 | Fri 01 May at 10am
Description
posthumous casting by Peter Cribb in 1968 from the mould created in 1919 to cast the processional cross for the Guild Chapel on Ditchling Common from the wax original version, painted lead
Dimensions
20cm high, 18cm wide (7 7/8in high, 7in wide)
Provenance
Peter Cribb and by direct family descent.
Footnote
The lead Christ figure was cast in 1968 by Peter Cribb, son of Joseph Cribb (1892-1967), Eric Gill's first assistant, from an original mould that had been preserved in the Guild workshop at Ditchling. This mould derived from a wax model created by Eric Gill as a preparatory study for the figure used on the Bisham war memorial. Gill’s diary records that the wax model was made on 1 March, and that two wax crucifix figures were sent for casting on 13 May. This entry has occasionally been confused with references to the Infant Christ of Prague.
The plaster mould for the crucified figure appears to have remained in the Guild workshop from the early 1920s, when the chapel at Ditchling Common was established. It is visible on a shelf in a photograph of the workshop taken around 1955–56, in which the foundation stone for the church of St Basil the Great at Basildon can be seen in the foreground.
Following the death of Joseph Cribb in 1967, the mould was removed from the workshop and used the following year to produce three lead casts. The mould subsequently deteriorated and collapsed, preventing any further examples from being made. One of these casts, finished with a gold-coloured paint, was later given to Ditchling Museum, while the remaining two are retained in the family’s possession. The museum also holds a plaster example of the figure, which was acquired in fragments and later restored.