This maquette for Kingfisher was created by John Burke (1946-2006) in preparation for his large outdoor sculpture at the Wilton Roundabout in Cork city. Commissioned by Clayton Love and Seamus Gallagher to commemorate the Cork 800 festival the Wilton sculpture is 25 feet in height and weighs eight tons. Fabricated using plates of steel welded together the sculpture was installed in December 1984. The smaller bright blue painted maquette is a delightful sculpture in its own right. From the collection of Frances Lynch it is 117 cm high, 127 cm wide and 57.5 cm deep. John Burke generally painted his sculptures in bright colours using, for example, Red Cardinal for the monumental Bank of Ireland piece (now the Department of Health) on Baggot St. in Dublin. Estimated at €30,000-€50,000 the maquette is the leading lot at Sheppards sale of important Irish art on September 15.