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Plaster macquette of Holden lion
Made by Hoff, George Rayner in South Australia, Australia, c. 1927.Summary
Object No.
87/1Object Statement
Maquette, plaster, Holden lion, made by Rayner Hoff, South Australia, c. 1927Physical Description
Maquette, plaster of paris, figure of a lion with a sphere. Supported on a wedge on a narrow rectangular pedestal base. The lean and muscular lion with foward looking head, erect and angled back, jaws open in a ferocious snarl and stylised mane falling in panels, the left foreleg held staight and tense while the right foreleg is raised with the paw placed on a sphere or ball. The body of the lion slopes back to the crouched haunces, the tail trailing back to the right.Short URL
https://ma.as/68813Dimensions
Height
405 mmWidth
135 mmDepth
420 mmProduction
Notes
"By the latter part of the twenties, Holden's had decided that [the previous] corporate insignia of a winged man design was too detailed for embossing. Accordingly one of Australia's leading sculptors of the time, Raynor Hoff, who was renowned for his war memorials and mural plaques, was commissioned to produce a design in plaster. On the advice of the firm's advertising agents and staff designers, who felt that an Egyptian-style lion, as used for the motif of the 1924 Wembley Exhibition in London, with its significance to the British Empire, could be both simple and dramatic. Furthermore a legend held that the invention of the wheel by primitive man was inspired by the sight of a lion rolling a stone with its paw. This plaster plaque was reproduced in small die-cast or pressed metal badges, with the word "Holden" as a base, which were affixed to Holden bodies produced for thenceforth." (from "Restored Cars, No. 47, 25th December 1981, page 15)Rayner Hoff, male, sculptor and teacher, b.1894 Isle of Man, England, d. 1937 Sydney. Renowned for his war memorials and mural plaques. (From "Scarlett, K., "Australian Sculptors")
Made
Hoff, George Rayner South Australia, Australia c. 1927History
Source
Credit Line
Purchased 1987Acquisition Date
8 January 1987Cite this Object
Harvard
Plaster macquette of Holden lion 2017, Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences, accessed 25 August 2019, <https://ma.as/68813>Wikipedia
{{cite web |url=https://ma.as/68813 |title=Plaster macquette of Holden lion |author=Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences |access-date=25 August 2019 |publisher=Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences, Australia}}
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