The figure of a child holding a lamp is intended as a personification of the winter solstice. It was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1929.

Acheson was born in Portadown, County Armagh, in 1882. She studied at the Belfast School of Art and at the Royal College of Art in London. Her first notable work of sculpture, The Pixie, was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1913.

In 1915 Acheson volunteered to help develop medical equipment for soldiers injured in the First World War. Together with fellow sculptor Elinor Hallé, she invented the technique of supporting broken limbs with plaster casts.

December now joins the collection of Craigavon Museum Services at Lough Neagh Discovery Centre, the museum for local history near to Acheson’s birthplace.

Provenance

American owner, acquired in the 1970s from Broadway Furniture and Antiques in Lawrence, Massachusetts. An Art Loss register certificate has been received with clear results.