"cherish"

by neil collinson
(england)

Hello Peter, i recently was generously given this piece it is no 355 of 500,my wife adores this piece. Just wondered if you could tell me anything about it!(is it modelled on anyone? when did you sculpt it?do you like it! and lastly the inevitable would you say its worth anything or better to enjoy!}

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Reply by Peter Holland (sculptor)

Hi Neil

Thanks for your kind comments.

To answer your questions, yes I do like this piece, in fact it is the only piece of my own work we have in our bedroom - beside a large carved wooden plinth which says "love".

It comes from a period which I call my 'predictive' period where I sculpted a ballerina (Coalport 'Moments'), a glamorous young lady, 'Charlotte' named by Royal Worcester (I didn't know what the name was going to be at the time I sculpted it) and slightly later I sculpted Cherish - just from my imagination, or so I thought.

At the time my youngest daughter Olivia was about 4 or 5 and she had never taken a ballet class. My eldest daughter (named Charlotte) was only about 7, and I had not yet met my future partner Debbie.

As it turns out, my youngest is now dancing with the Birmingham Royal Ballet, having been head girl of the Royal Ballet School. The 'Moments' ballerina looks exactly like her. The Charlotte Worcester figure is how my oldest looks now (she is 22). Cherish looks like my new partner Debbie and our baby Mia (now 3).

Strange but true! I am not sure whether is it life imitating art or art imitating life. Who knows?

With regard to value, there is a following for my work on ebay, but all markets are depressed at the moment. Probably best to enjoy. If you sell put a £200 reserve on it. A rare piece of mine recently went for over £800 on ebay, but it all depends on what it is, how rare it is and who is trying to build their collections.

Peter