JOHN AND DHUIE TULLY OF FOCHABERS: A RARE CARVED WOODEN SALMON
with hand-painted naturalistic decoration, mounted on a stained oak back board with bevelled edge, with painted legend “Springer caught by A. K. Wilson. Boat Meadow, Old Court, Whitney-on-Wye. 11th March 1923. Cock Fish Weight 43lbs. Length 47”. Girth 24”. River level 2’2”. Taken on a 2 1/2” black and gold Minnow”, 145cm x 66cm
Provenance: John Tully (1862-1931) and Isabella (Dhuie) Tully, née Russell (1864-1950).
From an important private sporting collection, Midlands.
Condition Report: |
click here
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Estimate: |
£6,000 - £8,000
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Bidding ended. Lot is unsold.
John Tully (1862-1931) and Isabella (Dhuie) Tully, née Russell (1864-1950)
John Tully was born on 2nd January 1862, the eldest son of Thomas Tully of Fochabers and his wife, Anne Brand. Thomas Tully was a builder’s carpenter and John learned the skills of the business in his father’s shop. In 1880 at the age of 18, he entered employment at Gordon Castle, where he remained for almost fifty years, starting in the carpenter’s shop and finally becoming Clerk of Works. In 1905 John Tully married John Russell’s daughter Isabella (Dhuie). They became known throughout the world for modelling fish, a department of artistic labour that made Fochabers and its studio a household word among anglers in even the most distant parts. Mr Russell’s legacy was continued by his gifted daughter and her husband, and throughout the passing years there has been an output of fish models that has run into many hundreds. The model had to be an exact replica of the fish with every dimension being drawn to scale, the depth and length measured with the utmost exactitude and painted in its natural colours.
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