Josef Lebovic Gallery and Odana Editions, with the endorsement of The Bradman Museum, are proud to offer collectors this unique opportunity to own a bronze sculpture of Sir Donald Bradman.

This bust of The Don is the third in the series of fine bronze castings from original plaster work.

The Australian Sculpture series was launched in June 2000 with the first release of works by Rayner Hoff - Norman Lindsay Bust 1924 - and by Norman Lindsay - Pair of Bookends c.1930.

From the same era comes this bust of Don Bradman. Originally crafted in plaster around 1935, the finely sculpted portrait of The Don is set on a column surmounted by two kangaroos with a cricket bat placed between them, the base being surrounded by a wreath of laurel leaves.

During the 1930s Australians followed the career of Bradman with intense interest. His face, of course, was familiar to everyone from the photographs published in newspapers. The unknown sculptor who created the original plaster showed considerable talent in capturing such a good contemporary likeness of Australia's hero. To our knowledge no other sculpture portraits of Sir Donald Bradman were produced in the 1930s.

This sculpture was used as a model for a Toby Jug produced in Japan in the mid 1930s, though the Toby Jug replicates only the top portion of the original plaster and not the column base. But how this came about remains a mystery.

The original creator was inspired by exploits of Sir Donald to make this fine piece of sculpture, in celebration of the triumphs of cricket's greatest ever player.

The bust is produced in a limited edition of 334 to commemorate the highest Test score of 334 runs achieved by Bradman in the Third Test against England at Leeds in 1930, which was also a world record - the highest score ever attained in a Test match.

Sculpture has not always been readily available to all Australians. We are changing that. At the time this sculpture was made, Australian sculptors had to send their work abroad for casting. The cost was prohibitive, and so few artists ever saw their work cast in bronze during their lifetime. Today there are several fine Australian foundries.

We have chosen the Melbourne foundry, Meridian, to produce our sculpture editions. Meridian has been operating for 27 years and is the largest lost-wax foundry in Australia, with wide experience in producing high quality work for many artists.

Traditionally sculpture has been produced as a single piece or in very small editions. We believe that by casting in larger editions more people will be able to own a fine piece of sculpture. The process used to produce these bronzes ensures that quality remains uniformly high throughout the whole edition.

Bronze casting, one of the oldest methods of reproduction, has remained essentially unchanged since the Renaissance. First, a silicon rubber mould is made directly from the original plaster. A wax cast is then made from this mould and a wax "runner & riser" system is attached to it.

The wax is then covered with a refactory, a plaster and water mix that is built up layer by layer until the shell is cylindrical in shape. This is kiln-fired for 48 hours to drive off water and "burn out" the wax. Molten bronze is then poured into the wax cavity. Imperfections in the castings are hand-finished. Finally the patina, a multi-layered chemical process affecting the colour of the finished bronze, is applied.

We are proud to offer collectors this fine piece of cricket art: The Don.