She stood on a Morroccan pokerwork table in the porch.
She was always there as I was growing up.
When the house was cleared all those years ago...I got to keep her.
So I put her on a hall table in the large front cloakroom...reminding me of home and family in Ireland.
But all things come to naught eventually ...and it was always a certainty... what with children and then grand children racing around the house ...that one day she would be toppled off her table and smashed.
I put her up in the top studio and kept all the pieces hoping for a time to glue the bits together.
Days, weeks and years went by, and always something more important filled the time.
But....this new year... the potter got her down, gathered the pieces and took her to his studio.
And once again she graces the table. Children grown up....grandchildren with more important things to do on computers etc.
The story was that she came from the Glasgow Festival Exhibition of 1888. She is made of Parian ware and has the stamp...Copeland. The title of the sculpture is .."The stepping stones" by Edward W. Wyon and it was distributed by Art Union of London.
Now sadly it's clear that she has seen better days...and the latest fall was certainly not the first as there are scraps of parian missing from toes and arms.
But I'm thrilled to see her amongst the roses and amazed that she has survived at least four generations on my mother's scottish side of the family!
