Sir Anthony Caro, R.A.

Private Collection, USA
Austin/Desmond Fine Art, London, where acquired by the present owner in April 2006

Dieter Blume, Anthony Caro Catalogue Raisonné Vol.II: Bronze Sculptures 1976-1980, Cologne, 1981, cat.no. 777, illustrated p.176.

Please note the surface has been recently cleaned and no longer has the stains visible in the catalogue illustration. The work appears in excellent overall condition. Please telephone the department on 020 7293 6424 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
"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."

'I had seen so many sculptures on the floor I wished to make a sculpture to stand on a table.  Not a maquette or a small model for a large one, but a small sculpture in its own right.  Therefore the scale had to be established and as in cups, pitchers, scissors, I used handles...'
Anthony Caro, 'My Own Work', Anthony Caro, exh.cat., Fundació Caixa Catalunya, Barcelona, 2002, p.29.

In 1966 Caro began to produce works on a smaller scale than his monumental sculpture of the early 1960s. Recognising that these Table Pieces would need to be lifted from the ground in order to be viewed properly as works in their own right, Caro made a significant move away from the ground-breaking 1960s notion that modern sculpture should be presented directly on the floor.

Rather than placing the sculpture in the centre of a traditional plinth, however, where it would be on a pedestal and removed from the viewer, Caro instead incorporated the structure of the table/plinth, its height, scale and most importantly the edges into the work itself. Caro explained, 'My Table pieces are not models inhabiting a pretence world, but relate to a person like a cup or a jug. Since the edge is basic to the table all the Table Pieces make use of this edge which itself becomes an integral element of the Piece' (Anthony Caro in an unpublished statement 1966/67, as quoted in Ian Barker, Quest for the New Sculpture, Lund Humphries, June 2004, p.161).