Gilbert Bayes

Overall the bronze is in excellent condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

'It is a fact that the love of moving water is ingrained in most of us... To all of us it comes as a charm, taking our thoughts away from the cares of the day by its gaiety, or quieting our unrest with its still reflections.'
Gilbert Bayes, lecture to the Royal Horticultural Society in 1928

Gilbert Bayes' own garden at Greville Place was animated by sprites and putti cast in polychrome stoneware from the Royal Doulton factory in Lambeth from the artist's own models. These figures included a working fountain – his Water Baby. Garden statuary and fountain figures were amongst the most characteristic strands of Bayes' oeuvre.

Bayes received his training at the Royal Academy schools where he won the prestigious gold medal and its accompanying travel scholarship. Following visits to France and Italy the first sculpture he showed at the Academy was his Fountain of the Zodiac in 1902. The Sea Urchin belongs to a later period of Bayes' art. A plaster for casting in bronze is in the collection of the Gilbert Bayes Trust. The present bronze was cast by the Morris Singer foundry from a mould taken from this plaster in 2007 with the permission of the Trust. The group was developed from an original small statuette which was priced at £54.10s in 1934. 
                                                       
Bayes's unique style with its stylised forms and magical subjects, developed from the influence of Pre-Raphaelitism and the New Sculpture movement at the end of the 19^th Century. As one of the leading British sculptors of his generation Bayes' talent was recognised by Richard Dircks in 1908: 'it is indeed a pleasant thing to find a temperament like Mr Bayes', generally imaginative and artistic, seeking and finding...expression in the art of sculpture.'

RELATED LITERATURE
Irvine & Atterbury, pp. 31-19 and 161; Dircks, pp. 193-9