First Abu Dhabi Bank gets triceratops neighbour in London’s Mayfair

Customers visiting the First Abu Dhabi Bank in London's Mayfair may notice a new artwork that has been installed nearby.

A three tonne, 3.2-metre-tall sculpture of a triceratops skull is the latest work to go on display as part of the Berkeley Square Public Art Programme, bringing natural history into the heart of the UK capital.

It stands on the north of the square near the bank, Annabel’s club and the David Aaron gallery, which is behind the new work. It will remain on display for two years.

The sculpture was carved from a single 10-tonne block of white Carrara marble by artist Paul Vanstone. It replaces a bronze juvenile Tyrannosaurus Rex that previously occupied the site.

Vanstone took inspiration from a 68 million-year-old sub-adult triceratops skull exhibited by David Aaron at Frieze Masters 2025.

His work has been exhibited in major museums and galleries around the world, including the British Museum and Victoria & Albert Museum in London, and for the past 15 years has exhibited at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

The sculpture stands near the First Abu Dhabi Bank in Mayfair, London. Photo: David Owens

Vanstone, a former assistant to Anish Kapoor, said: “The sculpture is the same size as a sub-adult triceratops. The idea that these creatures walked this planet, charging at this angle, you get a strong sense of their presence on this planet. I wanted to portray their great scale and power.”

He told The National he that hopes passers-by will feel the urge to touch the work. He said the skull is “peculiar and odd” and looks like a number of different animals. It took nine months to get his head around the project, but just 60 days to carve, initially using machines before hand-finishing it.

Jonathan Aaron, director of David Aaron, said: “This installation serves to promote public access to art and the wonders of the prehistoric natural world in Westminster’s Berkeley Square.”

The gallery specialises in Classical Greek and Roman, Egyptian, Near Eastern, and Islamic works of art, as well as significant items from natural history such as large-scale dinosaur fossils.

Significant scientific breakthroughs have been made through the work of David Aaron and the scientific community. These include the discovery of “Chomper”, a rare juvenile Tyrannosaurus Rex and one of the most complete examples, and the d