DRAGON

A black and white pen and ink drawing of an elegantly looped Chinese dragon standing in front of a tree, its body patterned with many detailed concentric circles. Signed by the artist to the right of the drawing. Window mounted and framed, the drawing measures 14 x 16 cm and the frame measures 29 x 32 cm. In fine condition, the drawing bright and crisp, the paper with very slight dustiness.

This amazingly finely rendered drawing clearly displays Sidney Sime's interest in East Asian art, the dragon with the long, slender, large-headed design of Chinese dragons, the tree mimicking Chinese and Japanese brush paintings, the artist's signature even adopting the vertical format of East Asian writing. Sime's characteristically fantastical, gothic style also shines through in the dragon's sinewy form and densely patterned body. Sidney Sime (1865-1941) was born to a poor family in Manchester. He worked in coal mines in Yorkshire as a boy, then worked for a draper and a baker before becoming a self-employed sign writer and eventually enrolling at Liverpool School of Art, where he won various prizes and started to exhibit. He soon became a sought-after book illustrator, and is now particularly known for illustrating the work of the fantasy writer Lord Dunsany.