A RARE ENGLISH LIMEWOOD CARVING OF THE HEAD AND WINGS OF A CHERUB

A RARE ENGLISH LIMEWOOD CARVING OF THE HEAD AND WINGS OF A CHERUB, ATTRIBUTED TO THE WORKSHOP OF GRINLING GIBBONS, LATE 17TH C 104cm hProvenance: Olive Cook (1912-2002).This newly discovered carving bears close comparison with those in Grinling Gibbons quire of St Paul's Cathedral, London of c1696-7. The quire was reordered in the 1870s, but the cherubs' heads and wings that remain in situ gaze slightly downwards, the face being planted on to the back of the head, which is constructed in at least two parts. The entire head of the present example would appear to be carved of one piece and the gaze is not so angled, but stares straight ahead. The artist and designer Olive Cook collaborated with her husband, photographer Edwin Smith, whom she married in 1954 on a series of articles on architecture, travel and Victorian popular art. Her home in Saffron Walden was gradually filled with salvaged architectural works of art, such as the present lot. It was not included in the sale of her collection at Cheffins, Cambridge, after her death being retained by a member of her family, the present vendor.