Article of the Week - number thirty nine - Ram's Head for Zegna

Graham Sutherland, one of Britain's great artists of the 20th Century, was commissioned in the late 1970s by the Zegna company to create a gouache from which lithographs would be produced. The prints were to be awarded annually to producers of superfine merino wool from Australia and later, New Zealand. 

This piece is one of 25 prints. There was also an enamel plate trophy from which lithographs were produced. 

The curious triangle around the ram's head is reminscent of the Shetland "byoags" that prevented sheep from reaching through fencing or jumping over barriers. Thankfully, nowadays those are not in use any more but they certainly were up until the start of the 21st Century.