A stunning bronze statue of The Boy Who Never Grew Up could fly to a hammer price of £30,000 as the star lot in an Edinburgh action this week.
After a lifetime in the collection of one family, the 20-inch sculpture of Peter Pan by Sir George Frampton is poised to go to the gavel in Edinburgh on Wednesday, with expectations of international interest and an estimate of £25,000-£30,000.
Showing Sir J M Barrie’s famous fairytale character with arm outstretched and playing a pipe, the 1915 statuette was one of just a few reductions cast after the original life-size bronze of Peter was commissioned by the Angus-born author and playwright and sited in London’s Kensington Gardens.
In 1910, Barrie had gone to Frampton, a leading figure in the New Sculpture movement of the time which sought to move away from the confines of traditional ‘frozen neoclassicism’ to create artworks of more dynamic and energetic form.
Frampton’s sculpture took its inspiration from a series of photographs taken by Barrie in 1906, two years after the London premiere of Peter Pan, and featuring Michael Llewelyn-Davies, who along with his brothers, was the original inspiration for the story.
The completed life-size bronze was then exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1911, before Barrie arranged to have it erected in secret at the end of April the following year, so that it would appear, as if by magic, on May Day.
In a brief announcement in The Times newspaper, the Kirrie playwright revealed: “There is a surprise in store for the children who go to Kensington Gardens to feed the ducks in the Serpentine this morning.
“Down by the little bay on the south west side of the tail of the Serpentine they will find a May Day gift by Mr J M Barrie, a figure of Peter pan blowing his pipe on the stump of a tree, with fairies and mice and squirrels all around.
“It is the work of Sir George Frampton, and the bronze figure of the boy who would never grow up is delightfully conceived.”
The statuette’s owner, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “We hope that it will be as loved by its new owners as much as it was by us.”
John Mackie of Lyon and Turnbull said: “This famous statue is held in great affection all over the world.”
