Lloyd's Four Elements

Last week, I shared the image of a pig from the 'four elements' bas reliefs in Lime Street. Created in the 1950s for the then-Lloyd's of London building, they contain references to the insurance business as well as a mixture of modern and mythological images. The reliefs are the work of sculptor James Woodford. They took three years to complete, and were finished in 1957.

Earth has a sower scattering seed; our pig and a rather surly sheep are at his feet. Fire has a phoenix and a fireman in rather anachronistic costume; air includes birds and, more prosaically, an aeroplane; and for water, we have Lloyd's lutine bell which rang to announce lost ships.