Originally painted for Shell’s ‘Country Craft’ series in 1966, this painting shows Robert Gillanders, master bagpipe maker and silversmith, hard at work with his son in their Forfar workshop. The scene is carefully constructed, divided into three horizontal panels, which creates a surreal composition. The foreground features the bagpipe’s drones on a tartan bench. The centre shows the workshop, with the son turning the chanter on the lathe and the father stitching the pipe bag. The scene is set against a Highland landscape with loch, mountains and a ruined castle. Established in 1929 the company became ‘R. Gillanders and Son’ in 1956/1957. It was then bought by Pipe Major Ian McLeod in 1972 and is now based in Edinburgh.