THE OPAL (I), 1940
Watercolour. 8 x 11¼in. (21 x 28.8cm.)
Inscribed on the reverse with the title, ‘Alchemical Figure’ and the date.
Provenance
National Trust bequest.
The opal was Colquhoun’s birth stone. Sho once wrote that the opal signifies ‘by its combination of colours the animal, vegetable and mineral worlds. By its connection with the Zodiacal Libra, it links the whole morphological system with the idea of a balance between static and dynamic forces.’