GILBERT BAYES (BRITISH 1872-1953) FOR ROYAL DOULTON
THE TUDOR ROSE, 1928
£605
Auction: 25 January 2023 from 10:00 GMT
Description
glazed stoneware, on an ebonised base
Dimensions
finial 35cm (13 3/4in); including base 37.5cm (14 3/4in)
Provenance
Provenance: Fine Art Society, London, 8th December 1995.
Footnote
Literature: Irvine, Louise and Atterbury, Paul, Gilbert Bayes: Sculptor 1872-1953, Richard Dennis 1988, pp. 36-37; pp. 90 and 172 illus.
Note: During the 1930s, Gilbert Bayes worked on a community art project for the St. Pancras Housing Association Improvement Society as part of a slum clearance scheme at Sidney Street in Somerstown, north of Euston station, and at other sites across London. The aim was the provision of high-quality homes for the poorest tenants. The society’s architect was Ian B. M. Hamilton, and he designed all the new flats to stand on the cleared land. Since Bayes believed that art should be available to all people, this commission was very close to his heart. He produced relief model lunettes of fairy tale characters, as well as ceramic sculptures and post finials for the washing line posts. The finials were inspired by animals and plants, nursery rhymes, Christmas cards, or the lives of the saints.
All the post finials and relief panels were made by Royal Doulton between 1931 and 1938 and, as well as at Somerstown the Society, Doulton commissioned these embellishments by Bayes at their other London projects. This Rose finial, for example, was used at the York Rise Estate (1937-8) near Highgate Hill and the Ship finials at St. Francis and St. Martins flats.
All the original post-finials for the project have now been removed, although some original relief plaques and ornaments remain at Sidney Street.