The Monkey and the Dolphin
A remarkable and unique mosaic panel by renowned British sculptor Dame Elisabeth Frink (1930–1993) once formed a striking centrepiece in the swimming pool at Woolland House, her country estate in Dorset. Now rediscovered and restored, The Monkey and the Dolphin - inspired by the ancient Aesop fable - stands as a singular example of Frink’s exploration of mosaic as a medium, and is believed to be the only work of its kind in her oeuvre.
Ken first encountered Frink, known to friends as ‘Lis’, in 1986, when she visited his shop in Bath. ‘At that time, I had just begun buying Swedish painted furniture, which she absolutely adored,’ he recalls. ‘Over the next few months, after she discovered my old brewery showroom in Gillingham, she bought numerous pieces, and we developed a close friendship.’ Around this time, Lis was creating the most extraordinary mosaic for her swimming pool, inspired by Aesop’s fable of The Monkey and the Dolphin (the moral of which is that dishonesty will eventually be exposed and lead to consequences). The completed mosaic was created entirely by Lis, solely carrying out all the work herself, and is well documented.
Ken was once again at Woolland in 2020, when he purchased the mosaic from the then owners. Overthe coming months, the mosaic was carefully removed from the swimming pool, expertly conserved and mounted on to a custom-made aluminium framework. The mosaic measures an impressive 4.34 by 3.09 metres and, due to the mounting, can either be reinstalled as a functioning pool mosaic or displayed upright as a free-standing work.
‘It’s all original,’ Ken emphasises. ‘All the work you see is her work. We haven’t had to rebuild any of it.’
Monumental in scale and deeply personal in provenance, The Monkey and the Dolphin represents not only a rare artistic departure for Frink but also one of the largest single works she ever produced. This significant piece leads the sale with an estimate of £300,000–500,000, offering collectors and institutions an extraordinary opportunity to acquire a major - and virtually unknown - work by one of Britain’s most celebrated 20th-century sculptors.
