Mar 05, 2020 - Sale 2532

Sale 2532 - Lot 131

Price Realized: $ 1,875
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
ROCKWELL KENT
Roof Tree.

Lithograph, 1928. 276x376 mm; 10 7/8x14 7/8 inches, wide margins. Edition of 100. Signed in pencil, lower right. A very good impression.

The practice of "topping out" a new building, which is shown in this image, can be traced to the ancient Scandanavian religious rite of placing a tree atop the roof to appease the tree-dwelling spirits displaced in its construction. This practice migrated from Scandanavia to England and thence to the Americas. Burne-Jones 21.