David Jones

Redfern Gallery, London, where acquired by Miss Anne Bowes-Lyon, 20 January 1940 (later Mrs Francis d'Abreu), and by descent to her son

Jonathan Clark, London

Sale, Christie's South Kensington, 28 April 2000, lot 113, where acquired by the present owner

London, Redfern Gallery, 1940 (as Boundary at Fortfield)

London, Tate Gallery, David Jones, 21 July - 6 September 1981, no. 104

London, Southbank Centre, Arts Council, David Jones: Paintings, Drawings, Inscriptions, Prints, 1989, no. 43, with tour to City Museum and Art Gallery, Bristol; City Art Art Gallery, Leeds; Kettle's Yard, Cambridge and Oriel Mostyn, Llandudno

Alan Bowness, Paul Hills, Nicolette Gray, David Jones, London, 1981, p. 105, no. 104, illustrated

The subject of the Cricket Match is unusual for Jones (and indeed may even be unique) within his oeuvre, but has many of the hallmarks of his work from the mid-1930s on, namely a highly worked and detailed composition, even as the individual marks are gestural throughout, achieving a unique mixture of detail with looseness.

This work has special provenance, being previously in the collection of Ann Bowes-Lyon, the cousin to Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, later Queen Elizabeth, later the Queen Mother. In the mid 1930s Ann Bowes-Lyon became the love interest of Tom Burns, one of Jones's closest friends. Jones gave Ann a number of prints and other artworks that were kept by her, and then passed down to her son upon her death.

Jones and Ann were both known to suffer from depression, and this served as an important point of connection between them both, and in correspondence between them, if "Rosy" had returned it was their code that they had been going through a period of depression. Although Tom and Ann's relationship did not last - he was a spy for British intelligence during the Spanish Civil War, not of the same social class as her and a Catholic, and therefore marriage between the pair would not have been approved, especially for a cousin of the Queen - but they remained friends and shortly after this Ann married Frank d'Abreu, becoming Mrs d'Abreau. Her friendship with Jones however remained warm, and Mrs. Frank d'Abreu is listed as one of the subscribers to THE FATIGUE, published in 1965 to mark Jones's 70th birthday. She also kept the works by him that she owned all her life, demonstrating her continued warmth and affection towards him.

Professor Bradford Haas