Tim Bramfitt, Goldcrest on a Pine Branch

The goldcrest shares with the firecrest the title of Britain’s smallest bird, and is most often seen high in conifer and mixed woodland. The orange centre to the crest suggests a male. The watercolour is signed Tim Bramfitt; we have not been able to trace the artist.

The bird perches on a bare twig in a spray of pine, head tilted up. Its olive back, pale breast and fine wing feathers are drawn with care. The pine needles and the soft blue sky are washed in loosely around it, leaving much of the paper bare.

Watercolour and bodycolour on paper. Signed in small capitals along the branch ‘TIM BRAMFITT’. Glazed, with a sage linen-textured mount and a gilt inner slip, in a gilt frame. Light spotting to the sheet and some marks to the mount.