ca. 1965. Bronze sculpture. Ca. 175 x 100 x 75 cm.

A beautiful cold-painted bronze of three different species of Amazon parrots, on the branches of a tree, made by the Dutch sculptor Gerda van den Bosch (born 1929). "Gerda van den Bosch was born ... on the Island of Java, then part of the Dutch East Indies. Pre-war Java was a child's paradise with exotic plants and animals. But her idyllic life was shattered by war and internment. Gerda was deprived of her greatest joy, her pets. Some 50 pigeons. In the internmentcamp she created her lost friends from pieces of wood and on small paper cuttings. All her 50 pigeons were portrayed. Today these miniatures remain a personal memoriam to these dark years. After the war Gerda completed her education by becoming a teacher. In Biology too, so enhancing her knowledge about the structure of life forms. However... the next ten years she worked together with the very skilled sculptor Marcus Ravenswaay who became her teacher. Her first major commission that brought her to the attention of the public was a bronze dog waiting for his master. This figure stands in front of a railway station. This expressive bronze produced a flood of further commissions. Her work was soon expanded to cover other animals and the human form, her figures ranging from miniatures to larger groups destined for either private collections or public display." (from her website). The species depicted in this bronze are a blue-and-yellow macaw, Ara ararauna Linnaeus; a scarlet macaw, Ara macao L., and a military macaw, Ara militaris L., or perhaps a hybrid. One "feather" partly broken, otherwise in very good condition; the birds accurately modelled, in lively positions, the colours bright and natural. A unique item of great beauty.