Images show clay/wood original for:
Bronze, Signed Hamish Mackie
Numbered Edition of 12
Dated 2024
153cm high (60″) x 120cm long (47″) x 66cm wide (26″)
Sculptures can be shipped world wide at cost, no VAT payable on exports outside the EU.
£65,000 inc VATI was commissioned by the bank Arbuthnot Latham to sculpt a peacock for their new London head office. It was designed to be free-standing in the main reception area under a central staircase. The bank was founded in 1833 and initially prospered by trading with India, hence their peacock’s head logo.
With a nod to the two Scottish founders of the bank, I have mounted the peacock on a washed-up piece of ancient Caledonian forest tree root. I found it on the banks of a Scottish loch and cast it into bronze. It was the perfect piece of wood!
Sculpting the peacock’s tail, or train as it’s known, had me thinking outside of the box. In order to maintain the feather texture and eyes of the tail, I had real peacock’s feathers 3D printed into a plastic. I then rebuilt the tail, and filled this multi-layered structure with clay to make a solid surface that the foundry could cast into bronze. I love thinking outside of the box when it comes to the complexities of bronze casting.
The peacock has many meanings in art. In China, it represents fame and good luck. In ancient Greece, it was the bird sacred to Hera, patroness of women, marriage and childbirth. In India, peacocks represent royalty, beauty and grace.
This sculpture can be placed inside or outdoors.
