Model of London’s Gandhi statue to go under hammer

A miniature model of an iconic sculpture of Mahatma Gandhi from central London square is set to go under the hammer at an auction in England next week, with a guide price estimate between 6,000 and 8,000 pounds.

The 27-cm tall bronze maquette is said to be the earliest complete vision of the statue by Polish sculptor Fredda Brilliant that has been installed at Tavistock Square in London’s Bloomsbury since 1968.

In September, its plinth was targeted with “racially aggravated” graffiti and had a spruce up in time for Gandhi Jayanti on October 2. Fredda Brilliant first conceived of the idea of a sculpture of Mahatma Gandhi in 1949, but it was not until the early 1960s that she was commissioned to make the memorial in Tavistock Square, London,” Woolley & Wallis auction house from Wiltshire said in a statement.

“She initially explored three poses, one of Gandhi standing, one of him walking and the final one offered here, sitting cross-legged, a pose she described as ‘traditional and intimate, suited to the small but beautiful (Tavistock) square’,” it stated.

Once the sculptor had settled on the pose, she created a customary metal miniature. It is the first of two of these maquettes that is being offered at auction next Thursday. A second maquette sold back in June 2019 for 65,000 pounds to a private collector.

“Given Fredda’s growing reputation and the fierce bidding we’ve seen for her Gandhi works in the past, the emergence of this first maquette from a private London collection is significant,” said Victor Fauvelle, Woolley & Wallis specialist.

“It offers collectors an exceptional chance to secure the piece that set one of Fredda’s most internationally recognised monuments and sculptures in motion,” he said.

The bronze sculpture, created with the backing of India League, was unveiled at the square as a nod to Mahatma Gandhi’s days as a law student at the nearby University College London.

The sculpture depicts Gandhi in a classic meditative pose, with the inscription on the plinth saying: “Mahatma Gandhi, 1869-1948.” Gandhi Jayanti, designated as International Day of Non-Violence by the United Nations, is commemorated with floral tributes and Gandhiji’s favourite bhajans at the monument in London annually on October 2.