Gurr Johns Acquires Terracotta Masterpiece for the Ashmolean

After nearly a decade on loan to Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum, a spectacular terracotta model by the French sculptor Claude Michel (1738-1814), known as Clodion, has been purchased for the institution’s permanent collection. Gurr Johns negotiated the £234,262 ($367,791) transaction under the British government’s tax-concessionary scheme, benefitting both the vendor and the museum.

Clodion crafted his Crucifixion with the Virgin Mary and St John for Rouen Cathedral in 1785. It formed the centrepiece of an ambitious scheme to replace the church’s medieval rood screen with works by the greatest sculptors of contemporary France. A full-sized Crucifixion was executed in gilt-lead and installed in 1788; though it survived the Revolution, the new screen was dismantled in 1884 and then largely destroyed in the Second World War. This model, therefore, is the closest surviving connection to the project, and is an exceptionally rare example of an ecclesiastical Clodion.

Gurr Johns is able to offer clients the experience and expertise required to successfully conclude sales of items of extraordinary national or institutional interest. Please contact Gurr Johns to discuss potential tax benefits and funding opportunities.

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