This is a small torso bust based on the full-size bust taken from the original mould for the new Arnold Bennett statue in the centre of Hanley - Arnold Bennett's birthplace.

The sculpting of the head of the new statue in the centre of Stoke-on-Trent's Cultural Quarter was completed in Paris in 2000 and approved by Bennett’s own daughter Virginia Eldin as a true likeness of her father. A cast of the head was made at that time. The complete statue figure was sculpted by Michael Talbot and Carl Payne in red clay - at life-and-a-quarter size -  and a mould made for future reference in 2010. A full-size torso bust was cold-cast from this mould - and this bust stands at the centre of the Arnold Bennett Exhibition in the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery. The Denise Coates Foundation, in 2016,  granted funding to create and install the magnificent bronze statue.

The small bust was created by the sculptors and is 23cms high and weighs 1.6kg. It is finely cast in resin with a bronze effect, and is a fitting memento of the wonderful bronze statue of Stoke-on-Trent's greatest author - unveiled on the 150th Anniversary of Bennett's birth.

Arnold Bennett and his novels put Stoke-on-Trent on the world map of literature and, to us, he will always be “identified with the great cause of cheering us all up.” (The Card)

The bust is supplied in a padded box suitable for posting.