Henri Gaudier-Brzeska Duck Replica
Last updated: 20 October 2026
The Gaudier-Brzeska Duck replica is a full-size cast of a 1914 carving, made for Kettle's Yard from moulds taken off the original and hand-finished so that no two come out alike. It is 120 x 65 x 40mm, small enough to hold, which is how the sculpture was meant to be handled. Gaudier-Brzeska carved it from an off-cut because he could not afford stone, and he was dead within a year, at 23. It costs £54, and a companion Toy replica is £49. Price checked on 6 September 2026.
The sculpture
Gaudier-Brzeska carved Duck in 1914. It is tiny, and its scale is not an artistic choice so much as an economic one: he was short of material and worked from whatever came to hand. Kettle's Yard describe where the stone came from, and the list is a portrait of the man's circumstances. Off-cuts from Aristide Fabrucci, the Italian sculptor with the studio next to his on the Fulham Road. Gifts. Theft from local masons' yards.
He made these hand-held pieces for friends, and the habit probably grew out of the same shortage. The bird's body is geometrically simplified into planes, with a triangle emphasising the tail and an incised circle for the eye. Kettle's Yard note the angularity suggests it might almost have been conceived as a pocket weapon, which is a strange thing to say about a duck and exactly right when you see it.
Henri Gaudier-Brzeska
He was born Henri Gaudier at Saint-Jean-de-Braye near Orleans on 4 October 1891, and came to Britain in 1908. In 1910 he met Sophie Brzeska in the Sainte-Genevieve library in Paris. He left France under a cloud soon after, and added her name to his.
From 1912 he built a circle in London that included Ezra Pound, Wyndham Lewis and T. E. Hulme, and contributed to both issues of the Vorticist magazine Blast. By 1914 he was one of the most interesting sculptors in England.
He enlisted with the French army at the outbreak of war and was decorated for bravery. He was killed at Neuville-Saint-Vaast, in France, on 5 June 1915, aged 23. Kettle's Yard's own product description says he died in Belgium, which is a slip: Neuville-Saint-Vaast is in the Pas-de-Calais.
What survives is roughly two years of mature work. Pound wrote a book about him the following year, and the reputation has never really settled, because there is not enough of it to settle.
What the replica actually is
| Detail | Figure |
|---|---|
| Product | Henri Gaudier-Brzeska Duck replica |
| Price | £54.00 at Kettle's Yard, in stock on 6 September 2026 |
| Material | Jesmonite |
| Size | 120 x 65 x 40mm, actual size |
| Made by | Alistair Burgass, in Norfolk, for Kettle's Yard |
| Method | Cast from moulds taken off the original sculpture, then hand-finished with a patina |
| Original | Duck, 1914 |
| Companion piece | Gaudier-Brzeska Toy replica, £49 |
Jesmonite is a water-based composite of gypsum and acrylic, used in conservation and casting because it takes fine detail and is not brittle the way plaster is. The moulds come off the original, so the form is the sculpture's own rather than an interpretation. The patina goes on by hand afterwards, which is where the variation comes from.
Alistair Burgass makes them in Norfolk, for Kettle's Yard alone. They are not sold anywhere else, which means there is no price to compare and no alternative source to check.
Kettle's Yard, and why the duck is there
Kettle's Yard in Cambridge was Jim Ede's house before it was a gallery, and Ede was a friend and champion of Gaudier-Brzeska who acquired a great deal of his work. The collection he assembled is still shown as he arranged it, with sculpture on windowsills and pebbles on tables, on the argument that art belongs among ordinary things rather than behind rope.
A hand-sized cast of a 1914 carving is therefore not a gift-shop afterthought at that particular gallery. It is the house's whole position in an object you can put in a pocket.
Who to give it to
Somebody who likes sculpture and has no room for any. Somebody who studied art history and got tired of posters. Anybody who has been to Kettle's Yard and talked about it afterwards, which is most people who have been.
It is also a good present for a reader of poetry, given the Pound connection, and our page on the Howard Hodgkin Indian Leaves print covers the wall-mounted version of the same instinct.
A word on what it is not
It is a replica, and Kettle's Yard call it that. It is not a limited edition, it carries no number and no certificate, and its value is in having the form rather than in owning an artwork. Anyone buying it as an investment is buying the wrong thing.
The hand-finishing means the piece that arrives will differ from the photograph in the depth and distribution of the patina. Kettle's Yard say so on the listing, and on a £54 hand-finished cast that is a description rather than a warning.
Buy the Duck replica at Kettle's Yard, £54
Gaudier-Brzeska Duck replica FAQs
What is the Gaudier-Brzeska Duck?
A small carving Henri Gaudier-Brzeska made in 1914, one of a group of hand-held pieces he produced when he could not afford proper stone. The body is simplified into planes, with a triangular tail and an incised circle for the eye.
How much is the replica?
£54 from the Kettle's Yard shop. The companion Toy replica is £49.
What is it made of?
Jesmonite, a gypsum and acrylic composite, cast from moulds taken off the original and hand-finished with a patina effect.
How big is it?
120 x 65 x 40mm, which Kettle's Yard describe as actual size. It fits in a hand, which is how the original was meant to be held.
Where else can you buy it?
Nowhere. Alistair Burgass makes them in Norfolk for Kettle's Yard alone, so the gallery shop is the only source.
When and where did Gaudier-Brzeska die?
He was killed on 5 June 1915, aged 23, at Neuville-Saint-Vaast in France, serving with the French army and having been decorated for bravery. Kettle's Yard's product page says Belgium, which is a mistake.
Is it a limited edition?
No. It is an open replica with no edition number or certificate, and each one varies because the patina is applied by hand.
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- Gifts for artists: the full guide, for people who make things and people who love the people who do.
- Howard Hodgkin, Indian Leaves: the same instinct, for a wall rather than a shelf.
- Royal Academy Summer Exhibition review: what we made of this year’s hang.
- Great Women Artists: the reference book to sit under it.
- Gifts for a lifetime: things finished by a person, one at a time.
Prices and stock change. Everything here was checked on 6 September 2026 against the Kettle's Yard shop listing, which is also the source for the account of the 1914 carving. Gaudier-Brzeska's dates and place of death are as recorded by Art UK. More on the collection at Kettle's Yard.
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