A SET OF FOUR 'BROMSGROVE GUILD' LEAD GARDEN PUTTI EARLY 20TH CENTURY, MODELLED BY WALTER GILBERT Spring holding a nest of chicks, Summer with a butterfly on her left hand, Autumn holding a leafy branch above her head, and Winter swathed in a loose robe, each with a naturalistic moulded circular base, on later square timber pedestals, one plinth embossed 'BROMSGROVE GUILD/ WORCESTERSHIRE 1910' The figures 109cm high, 111cm high, 112cm high and 115cm high, the pedestals 90cm high Provenance: H C Moffatt of Hamptworth Lodge, Salisbury (the garden designed by Thomas Hayton Mawson), Thence by descent Sold Tennants, 22 July 2018, lot 22 The Bromsgrove Guild of Applied Arts (1898-1922) emerged from The Bromsgrove School of Art having been founded by the School's headmaster Walter Gilbert. Initially, The Guild operated from studios in Bromsgrove, Birmingham initially producing decorative ironwork. In later years the firm expanded its production to include bronze and lead work as well as wood and stone carvings and stained glass. The Guild also featured in the 1900 Paris Exposition securing nine medals as well as participating in major municipal Exhibitions including The Arts & Crafts Society Exhibition, London 1903. By 1908 the business had established a retail outlet in Victoria Street, London as a result of their most famous commission, the iron and bronze gates outside Buckingham Palace as well as Queen Victoria's memorial. In 1922 the firm restructured as a Limited company, turning its attention to the production of more commercialised range of goods including gates, railings, signs, pendant light fittings and memorial plaques. Fortunes declined coinciding with the 1930s depression and in the final twenty years the business (1946-1966) the business was managed by George Whewell.