Dobson made two plaster maquettes in 1935 in preparation for the twelve feet high centrepiece he was constructing for the Chelsea Arts Club Ball of the same year. Sherwood Foster, a founder member of the Ball and former president of the Chelsea Arts Club appears to have been given one of these maquettes. It is not clear whether Foster arranged for the casting of his plaster himself or whether it was the artist. Dobson certainly knew of a foundry in Leicester called Empire Stone who were specialists in casting reconstructured stone materials.

The plaster centrepiece was destroyed at the end of the Ball

We are very grateful to Lisa Thompson-Pharoah for her help in cataloguing this lot