The Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences acknowledges Australia’s First Nations Peoples as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the land and gives respect to the Elders – past and present – and through them to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are advised that the MAAS website contains a range of Indigenous Cultural Material. This includes artworks, artifacts, images and recordings of people who may have passed away, and other objects which may be culturally sensitive.
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 c. 1927History
Used
Holden Motor Body Builders LtdSource
Credit Line
Purchased 1987Acquisition Date
8 January 1987Cite this Object
Harvard
Plaster macquette of Holden lion 2017, Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences, accessed 21 January 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=21 January 2019 |publisher=Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences, Australia}}
Copyright for the above image is held by MAAS and may be subject to third-party copyright restrictions. Please contact MAAS Rights and Permissions for information regarding reproduction, copyright and fees. Text is released under Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives licence
Submit an image license enquiry.Incomplete
This object record is currently incomplete. Other information may exist in a non-digital form. The Museum continues to update and add new research to collection records.