Mastiff

Very little is known concerning this terracotta statuette of a hound or its pendant (inv. no. A.10-1954). In his recommendation to the Director, the Keeper of the Department of Architecture and Sculpture in 1954 wrote that 'these two sketch models of dogs . . . came with a block of other things from Ashburnham'. The tradition at Ashburnham Place - a country house in Sussex - was that they were the work of 'an artist who had come down a long time ago and done portraits of all the dogs'.