Figurine Restoration and refinish – Perth WA

Price :

This piece George V was bought in for repairs to the plaster.  The customers father was a master plaster and had been able to take a mould from the original bronze years ago.  I suggested a bronze finish would finish the piece off.

The following information was sent in to me in the hope that it makes it to the owner.  Thanks Stephen.

It was made around 1936 and my guess is that your clients master plasterer father was working in the Ajax Plaster Works in Perth. Also associated with Ajax was the sculptor Edward Kohler, who has an entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography. Kohler was working with architect Reg Summerhayes on a submission for an equestrian statue to be placed in King George Square, which was under construction in Brisbane. Summerhayes and Kohler secured the commission and the life-sized statue and two lions were cast in bronze and are a feature of King George Square today.

However in order to secure the commission in the first place a maquette needed to be made. Essentially a maquette is a small version of the finished sculpture. Edward Kohler created a small version in clay from which a mould was made and a plaster cast made as part of the submission process. There was previously only one cast known to have been made, and that is now in the possession of Summerhayes’ son. It has been loaned to the Art Gallery of WA for exhibitions on previous occasions. The father of your client evidently cast another copy for himself. It would have been taken from the same mould at more or less the same time as the Summerhayes version and is therefore of comparable importance.

The context and provenance of the statue would probably increase its monetary value. However it should be considered that statues of British royalty are not the flavour of the month anymore. It’s evident from the fact that he or she commissioned a restoration of the item that your client treasures the statue because of family connections. Hopefully the little bit of extra context will give extra grounds to treasure it further.