Lot 80: Gold, Mineral and Mixed Media Flower Study by William Tolliday

Gold, Mineral and Mixed Media Flower Study by William Tolliday
Circa 1975Retailed by Garrard, London, EnglandComprising various flowers rendered in 18K yellow gold, including poppy seed heads, wild carrot, ears of corn, mushrooms, acorns and fern sprouting from a craggy chrysocolla and quartz mass with stylized "mushrooms" formed of drusy chalcedony and several stems formed from elongated green tourmaline crystals, known in the mineral hobby as "pencils" having naturally striated faces. Mounted onto a canvas backing painted with a forest view, plush mounted gilt-wood frame. Signed William Tolliday. Offered in a gilt-wood, plush velvet frame. Height 16 1/2in (41.9cm)

Provenance: Purchased from Sotheby's, London, South Kensington. William TollidayBorn in 1915, William Tolliday worked his entire career at Garrard & Co., London, the New Bond Street firm designated as England's crown jeweler up until 2007. In the late 1960s he began creating his signature fairytale castles of gold, perched on mineral specimens that he said were inspired by the Houses of Parliament and the buildings of Venice. It was from his workshop above Garrard's that Tolliday produced a very limited number of gold and mineral flower studies and architectural reliefs so which he also painted the canvas backgrounds.