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Wedgwood Museum Original Bronze Sculpture: Seated Boy by Jonathan Sanders

Wedgwood Museum Original Bronze Sculpture: Seated Boy by Jonathan Sanders

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Including VAT: $405.57 Excluding VAT: $337.97

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24 July 2023: This edition has now sold out.

We have sold all 250 castings of this piece, so the edition has now been closed and no more castings will be made.

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Size in cm: 4w x 9h x 8d cm
Size in inches: 1½"w x 3½"h x 3"d
Weight: 420g / 14¾oz

Edition: 250
Material: Foundry Cast Bronze

This Jonathan Sanders bronze sculpture of a Seated Boy was hand cast by Nelson & Forbes in a British foundry, in an edition of just 250. It is presented in a high quality English hand made gift box and is accompanied by a numbered booklet of information, signed by the artist, Jonathan Sanders. This booklet is your guarantee that this is an original foundry casting of Jonathan Sanders's work that he has personally approved.

Jonathan Sanders was invited by The Wedgwood Museum to create a range of contemporary bronze sculpture, inspired by its collections.

The Wedgwood Museum Collection is a unique record of the history of the Wedgwood company and of high quality English manufacturing. It includes a large range of manuscripts, correspondence, factory equipment, trials and original models as well as fine art by the likes of George Stubbs and Joshua Reynolds and, of course, ceramics. The basis of the collection can be traced back to the founder, Josiah Wedgwood I, who, conscious of the experimental nature of the work he was undertaking, kept his trials and experiments for posterity.

When Jonathan Sanders visited the museum, he says that he was ‘Utterly bowled over by the quality and beauty of so much of the collection, which represents the best in English design and production over the past 250 years’.

He was particularly entranced by the Domestic Employment series of Jasperware, depicting young children going about their day to day life, typically engaged in ‘domestic employment’. The depictions are a beautiful and some might say a slightly romantic view of how ordinary children experienced life in the 1780s, from the point of view of the aristocrat, Lady Elizabeth Templetown.

“I couldn’t help but compare those scenes with the lives of my own children”, he says, “and was inspired to sculpt a collection of pieces of them going about their every day life today.”

The resulting pieces are a depiction, by a contemporary artist, of the domestic life of today’s English child and Nelson & Forbes are proud to have the opportunity to produce them by hand in England, just as Wedgwood have done for many generations.

This bronze casting is a perfect recreation of Jonathan Sanders's orignal sculpture and took two weeks to create. It bears the artist's signature and its own unique edition number. As every piece is cast by hand, each one is an original and so will be very slightly different to the last.

‘The Wedgwood Museum’ is a trade mark belonging to the Wedgwood Museum Trust Limited.

Jonathan Sanders Biography Photo Jonathan Sanders was born in 1959, and completed a degree in Fine Art at North Staffordshire University in the early 1970's.

While Jonathan was training, his talent for sculpting was immediately spotted, but he chose at that time to follow a career as a painter and his work quickly became sought after by collectors.

His work is so highly regarded that he undertook several notable commissions at that time including the cover for the South African band Ladysmith Black Mambazo’s album ‘In Harmony’ and a personal portrait of Nelson Mandela.

His original paintings are sought after and held in collections worldwide and his prints reach a wide audience both as limited editions in galleries and open editions sold in Next and Ikea.

As he painted, inspired by the landscape, wildlife, people around him and native African art, he gradually found that these same influences were also inspiring him to revisit his passion for sculpting.

Jonathan began to experiment with clay and wax, gradually developing a unique way of capturing the mood and weight of the animals he spent so long studying in East Africa.

"I find working in the three dimensional form truly fascinating," he says. "The pose has to have an element of drama. Then comes the anatomy of the subject which has to be accurate, but not to the point of compromising the movement and presence of the piece."

Jonathan initially cast several of his wildlife sculptures in bronze resin, but when asked what it means to see his work cast in solid bronze, he explains:

"The Bronze reveals all the manipulation of the original material. Its patina has a depth of colour that absorbs and reflects light. Pick the piece up and it feels heavy in the hand. A tactile, permanent piece of work that truly reveals the qualities of the artist’s hand."

His first limited edition bronze sculptures sold out swiftly and he is currently working on new pieces in his studio in Bath, where he lives with his wife and children.

Jonathan says, "Working in three dimensions has challenged me to look at my paintings differently and experiment with new techniques."

Creation of your bronze sculpture

Every time we cast a piece, a new mould is created and subsequently destroyed. This means that every single piece of sculpture bought from us is entirely hand made and utterly unique, which is why it is numbered by hand to tell you which casting of the edition you have bought.

1. Mould Making

A silicone rubber mould is made of the original art work. Absolutely every detail captured or missed by this mould will be reproduced in the bronze castings. Depending on the size of the mould, it may then be cut into sections for casting.

This is the master mould used to originate all castings of that piece. Each time that piece is ordered, we follow the following procedure:

2. Making the Wax Casting

Molten wax is poured into the rubber to create an exact wax duplicate of the original model.

3. Chasing the Wax

The wax is removed from the rubber mould any flaws are hand finished by a skilled craftsman.

4. Spruing

Wax rods and a wax pouring cup are carefully attached to the wax casting in just the right positions to allow bronze to be poured in any displaced air to escape. This means that no air bubbles are trapped inside the mould as they would be gaps in the finished bronze piece.

5. Investment

The wax model with attached rods is now covered in ceramic material which will form the mould for the final bronze pour. This is done by dipping the wax model carefully into investment liquid and then covering it in a fine powder before allowing it to cure (completely dry). The model is then dipped into investment liquid again and given a coating of a coarse ceramic powder. By following this procedure several times, a ceramic shell is built up around the wax model.

6. Burn-Out

The wax inside the ceramic shell is then placed in a kiln and fired. The shell bakes and the wax is melted (lost) from the shell. This creates a hollow ceramic shell mould and accounts for the term "Lost Wax" being applied to the process.

7. Casting

The ceramic mould is removed from the kiln and molten bronze is immediately poured into it, at 1200°C.

8. Break Out

Once the casting has been allowed to cool for several hours, the mould is carefully removed by hand from the bronze model inside.

9. Sandblasting

Any fragments of the ceramic shell are removed by sandblasting and the sculpture is carefully inspected at this point.

10. Assembly

All attached rods and cups (which are now bronze) are removed by hand. At this point, any segments of a large sculpture that has been cast in sections are welded together.

11.Chasing

All the weld marks and removed and rod marks are chased and re-detailed by hand. Any scars left by the rods are carefully blended to match the rest of the sculpture’s surface as intended by the artist.

12. Polishing

The bronze is hand polished in preparation for the patina.

13. Patination

The bronze is first heated before the chemical patina is applied by an artist. A patina can achieve many different colours or effects depending on the mix of chemicals used.

14. Waxing

Finally a wax coating is hand applied before the piece is polished to ensure a beautiful lustrous patina.

15. Numbering

Finally, the piece is numbered by hand. It is numbered as the casting number, followed by a slash and finally the edition size. For examples, 5/250 means that your piece was the fifth piece to be cast from the master mould out of 250 castings made. The piece also bears the signature of the artist. Jonathan Sanders pieces are all marked with a JS or JRS.

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Reviews

Customer Reviews 6 item(s)

I am very pleased

Overall Satisfaction

Dear Deborah,
Just to say that lying girl (Sarah) has joined sitting boy (Jonathan).. and I am very pleased with them. Review by Mr. R.M. / (Posted on 03/05/2023)

Not yet

Overall Satisfaction

I have not seen the sculpture yet. It will be a Christas gift. Check back if you wish - in January.

Best wishes,

Robert Dickson
Hamilton, Ontario Canada Review by Robert / (Posted on 25/10/2020)

A timeless piece of the highest quality

Overall Satisfaction

Dear Miss Foster,
To say I was thrilled when I saw my seated boy would be an understatement. Just opening the very smart packaging was exciting and then to examine the exquisite sculpture was a real delight.
You are quite right - in an age of low cost disposable convenience it is wonderful to own a timeless piece of the highest quality. For the cost of dinner, bed and breakfast in a decent hotel I could have a companion for my seated boy. He'd like a dog but I don't see an Irish Terrier in your collection so he'll have to make do with another human.
I am so glad I saw your advertisement in Country Life. I'm sure I'll be in touch again in the not too distant future.
Thank you not only for the beautiful sculpture but also for the ultra quick service.
Review by Mr. T. L. / (Posted on 29/04/2019)

PETER essex

Overall Satisfaction

Thank you for Seated boy bronze sculpture .My wife was over the moon with it .It matches the Reading girl which we purchased last year and looks fine on the mantelpiece. Review by peter / (Posted on 16/01/2018)

A lovely tactile bronze

Overall Satisfaction

Many thanks for the Seated Boy that arrived today. As usual a lovely tactile bronze.
He goes well with his seated sister, almost as the pair of them are waiting for a bus or a train! Bravo Zulu! Review by M.M. / (Posted on 24/11/2017)

Solid and Heavy Piece