30 PIECES OF SILVER: Part Six

KING TUT GOBLET © IVAAN KOTULSKY 1979

This is one of my favourite  pieces by Ivaan, but it is perhaps the one that causes me the most anguish.  Here's why: I no longer have it.

Ivaan made it in 1979 as part of his King Tutankhamun collection.  As far as I know, there has never been a mould of it, but I used to see it lying around among his pieces for years.  After we moved out of his studio a couple of doors away from our house on Portland Street, the goblet was stored in our basement.  I actually have a vivid memory of seeing it sitting on a brick ledge behind the furnace, while I was bricklaying over what had been the wooden door to a coal chute.

I had thought it was included in a fabulous exhibition of Ivaan's abandoned pieces entitled Sweepings: Treasures From The Atelier Floor, at KUMF Gallery in September 2008, curated by the utterly remarkable dynamo, Luda Pawliw, but even close inspection of the film footage of this exhibit doesn't show this piece on display, so I must reluctantly conclude that my own negligence led to its disappearance.

It's sterling silver, and this photograph is approximately life size.   I am sure it says IVAAN in block capitals underneath the base. If you ever see it anywhere (perhaps behind the furnace in our old house on Portland Street) I'm offering a substantial reward for its return. Grrrr.