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PHYLLIS BONE'S SCULPTURES



The Ashworth Laboratories are decorated with sculptures of animals made by Phyllis Bone, who was the first female Royal Scottish Academician. She made three sculptures - a dung beetle, an octopus and a crab - to represent the invertebrates.

a beetle dung beetle

an octopus octopus

and a crab crab

The sculptures of vertebrates represent the principal zoogeographical regions.

The Palaeartic region is represented by:

a reindeer reindeer

a golden eagle golden eagle

and a polar bear polar bear

The Neartic region by:

a beaver  beaver  

and a bison  bison  

The Ethiopian region by:

an aardvark  aardvark  

a chimpanzee  chimpanzee  

and a lion  lion  

The Oriental region by:

an Indian elephant Indian elephant

a rhinoceros rhinoceros

and a tiger  tiger  

The last three ovals represent:

Australia, New Zealand and South America

a kangaroo kangaroo

a pair of sphenodon lizards  sphenodon lizards  

the nine-banded armadillo  nine-banded armadillo  

The animals were first modelled in clay and the models then cast in artificial stone to make the seventeen plaques which decorate the exterior of the building. Phyllis Bone also made the sculptures which decorate the National War Memorial in Edinburgh Castle.