A ceramic painting by a Bromyard man who worked for Royal Worcester for 10 years has pride of place in the home of a couple 3,500 miles away, in the United States.
Pamela and Peter Smith, who live in Massachusetts, bought the work on a visit to England in 1987.
Mrs Smith, aged 56, said: “We picked it up on a trip to Britain in 1987.
“We took a riverboat along the Avon and visited the Royal Worcester factory.”
The ceramic painting by the Bromyard artist Francis Clark appealed to the Smiths because Mr Smith is of Irish descent.
The Smiths took down the 10in x 8in painting when they were re-decorating their home recently, and found the words “Irish Cottage” on the back.
They wondered where in Ireland the scene might be and whether it was a product of the artist’s imagination or a real place.
They traced Mr Clark, aged 60, who left Royal Worcester in 1982 to set up his own studio, and now he has solved the mystery of “Irish Cottage”.
He says Ireland Cottage is in fact his own address, and the painting is a copy of a work called Shepherd and Sheep by Charles Adams (1859-1932), probably depicting a Leicestershire landscape.
“It’s great to hear about this painting,” said Mr Clark. “That is why I do what I do. This is what it’s all about. You want your work to provide pleasure when it’s up on the wall.”
Mrs Smith said: “We just wanted to let him know that his art, this little jewel we treasure, had travelled the ocean and is loved and looked on daily.”
