Kieran O'Boyle
Head of Ireland & Northen Ireland
Lot 43
Lily Yeats(Irish, 1866-1949)Fisa Playing His Harp, after a design by Boris Anrep 96 x 74 cm. (38 x 28 in.)
17 – 28 November 2023, 14:00 GMT
DublinSold for €2,432 inc. premium
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Kevin Gaines
Senior Client Liaison
Penny Day
Head of UK and Ireland
Lily Yeats (Irish, 1866-1949)
Fisa Playing His Harp, after a design by Boris Anrep
signed and inscribed in Lily Yeats' hand, 'Anrep, Fisa Playing his Harp, worked by Lily Yeats, not for sale, copies 15 gns. Lent by W.B. Yeats' (on a Cuala Industries label verso) and further inscribed in the poet's hand, 'W.B. Yeats, 82 Merrion Square' with a later label, 'Please return to Anne Yeats'
cloth embroidered in coloured silks and wool
96 x 74 cm. (38 x 28 in.)
signed and inscribed in Lily Yeats' hand, 'Anrep, Fisa Playing his Harp, worked by Lily Yeats, not for sale, copies 15 gns. Lent by W.B. Yeats' (on a Cuala Industries label verso) and further inscribed in the poet's hand, 'W.B. Yeats, 82 Merrion Square' with a later label, 'Please return to Anne Yeats'
cloth embroidered in coloured silks and wool
96 x 74 cm. (38 x 28 in.)
Footnotes
Provenance
W.B. Yeats, from whom acquired by
Anne Yeats
Her sale, H.O.K., 19 November 2002, lot 579, where purchased by the present vendor
Exhibited
Arts & Crafts Society of Ireland, 1925, no.236
This piece depicts a male and a female figure standing in front of a branching tree (the 'harp') under a crowned eagle, with a skull and other symbols below. It was likely commissioned by Yeats from his sister, perhaps using some of his Nobel Prize money (1923). 'Fisa' or 'Fiza' is a Muslim name meaning 'the God of the wind'.
Boris Anrep (1883-1969) was born in Russia and made his name in London as a mosaic artist, with large-scale works at the National Gallery, Westminster Cathedral and the Bank of England.
