The Crucifixion

Details

David Jones (1895-1974)
The Crucifixion
carved boxwood
5 in. (12.7 cm.) high, excluding oak base; 10 in. (25.4 cm.) overall
Carved circa 1925.

Provenance

with Anthony d'Offay, London, where purchased by the present owner's mother, and by descent.

Literature

J. Miles and D. Shiel, David Jones The Maker Unmade, Bridgend, 1995, pp. 80, 297, no. 5 (Carvings), illustrated.

Special Notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

'In the mid 1960s, David Jones made a number of small end-grain boxwood carvings, "things which alone would place him in the first rank of modern artists" (Eric Gill, Last Essays, London, 1942, p. 151). This was a natural extension of wood-engraving, indeed it is probable that several of the carvings were made from discarded blocks. Jones liked working on this small scale, accommodating to the hand. The carvings were not intended for sale or for exhibition, and none appears to have been made after the 1920s' (exhibition catalogue, David Jones, London, Tate Gallery, 1981, p. 77).

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