neil guthrie

Obverse: Charles IV of Spain in profile, natural hair with a long queue tied with a ribbon, curls at the temples. Legend: CAROLUS IIII. DEI . G . 1792. Countermarked on the neck of the Spanish king with George III in profile in a small oval. Reverse: the royal arms of Spain with Madrid mint marks. Legend: REX . HISPANIARUM Spanish coins held by the British Treasury in its vaults were countermarked as an emergency measure to remedy a serious shortage in domestic silver coinage. This particular piece was not issued for general circulation but was probably intended as payment to foreign soldiers in the King's service on the Continent

Spanish 4 reales piece (1792), obverse countermarked with head of George III in small oval, at Noonans, London (est. £300-£400)

Likely, I think. The Victorians loved to add rococo scrollwork to old pieces

Baluster bowl with leaf-capped double-scroll handle and spread foot; gilt-washed interior. Chased and engraved scrolls and flowers. Scrolled frame in leaf and diaper surround with engraved presentation: 'Colonel James Priaulx / Queens A.D.C. / to the best Marksman / in the / Royal Guernsey Militia / 1864'

Silver mug with gilt interior made by Samuel Whitford (London, 1764), engraved 100 years later for presentation to Col. James Priaulx of the Royal Guernsey Militia. With Nelson & Nelson, NYC #c18th #c18 #18thc

Pair of round glazed blue and white portrait plaquettes of a helmeted Renaissance warrior (here) and lady in wood frames, marked on the underside with 'Sgr P' and a sceptre. The seller's justification was that the description stated they are in Wedgwood's characteristic blue but not marked Wedgwood - but Jasperware they are not and I don't think that's Sarah Siddons. To be fair, though, the description was later amended to identify the maker correctly

The lady

Mark is the sceptre from the Prussian royal arms with Sgr P underneath

Mark as illustrated in W. Burton and R.J. Hobson, Handbook of Marks on Pottery & Porcelain (1919), page 37 (which I found by googling ‘Sgr P china mark’

The eBay seller got a bit shirty when I politely pointed out that these pieces described as 'Early Wedgwood Blue Sarah Siddons Portrait Medallion Jasperware' are late 19C products of Seger Porzellan at the Berlin KPM factory. Do people not check marks?

Hand-coloured etching, plate 320 x 245mm (11¾ x 9¾"). Narrow margins, long repaired tear bottom right corner, other small tears. Some creasing within the plate mark. Surface dirt. A version of Goupy's caricature of Handel, depicting him as a gluttonous pig sitting on a barrel of wine at the organ surrounded by instruments, dead chickens, plus food and drink including turtle soup. A shopping list of expensive delicacies unfurls from his pocket. Handel and Goupy were good friends until they fell out in 1743. Caption: 'The figures odd - yet who wou'd think Within this Tun of Meat and Drink, There dwells the soul of Soft Desires, And all that Harmony inspires; Can contrast such as this be found? Upon the Globe's extensive Round; There can - you Hogshead is his Seat His sole Devotion is to Eat.'

Caricature by Joseph Goupy of George Frederic Handel (Händel) as a pig-snouted 'Charming Brute' (c1754). With Grosvenor Prints, London #c18th #c18 #18thc

Bloch (1973), p. 221, says BCP 'practised at least once the healing rite, and in this very palace of Holyrood', citing Robert Chambers, History of the Rebellion in Scotland (1828), i.184. Helen Farquhar also cites this in pt IV of 'Royal Charities', British Numismatic Journal (1917), pp 172-3

Let me check my notes!

Brass medal (38mm). Obv.: Admiral Vernon standing slightly right, holding baton and sword; behind, canon to right; in background, ship under sail right; scallop and floral spray below. Legend: THE · BRITISH · GLORY · REVIV · D · BY · ADMIRAL VERNON · / Rev.: three ships under sail right and three ships within harbour of Portobello; in the exergue, NOV · 22 · 1739 above floral design. Legend: WHO · TOOK · PORTO · BELLO · WITH · SIX · SHIPS · ONLY · Brown surfaces, minor flan cracks, a few light scratches. Condition: VF.

Medal celebrating the capture of Portobello by Admiral Vernon, 1739. At CNG Auctions (est. US$100) #c18th #c18 #18thc

The classic work on this is Michael Bloch's The Royal Touch; see also Noel Woolf, The Sovereign Remedy (and I have written about this as well)

Oval bowl with straight sides. Cover hinged and domed with vasiform finial. On front, bright-cut oval wreath (vacant) surrounded by leafing scrollwork, pendant flowers, and garland. Beading. Spoon: Scallop shell bowl; tapering and bright-cut handle. With key. Both spoon and caddy fully marked including duty stamp. Caddy has duty drawback stamp (in effect, an export stamp).

Tea caddy with spoon and key by Hester Bateman (London, 1784), with Nelson & Nelson, NYC #c18th #c18 #18thc

James! (No contest, really.)

Furthest I’ve been:

N Whitehorse, Yukon
E Moscow
S Buenos Aires
W Whitehorse, Yukon

Gold piece from the royal touching ritual, pierced twice for suspension (presumably because the first hole was too close to the edge). Obv.: St Michael vanquishing the dragon, with the legend SOLI DEO GLORIA ('The glory to God alone'). Rev.: a three-masted ship, with the king's titles (IACO. II. D. G. M. B. FR. ET HIB. REX - James II by the grace of God, King of Great Britain, France and Ireland')

On eBay, a gold touchpiece of James II and VII (c1685-88). Worn from use. Early part of the long #c18th #c18 #18thc

No need to apologise! Thanks for this :)

Or a walk on the promenade in Geneva …

Rectilinear with tapering bowl and concave top, base on four corner balls; cover hinged and double-domed with cast finial in the form of a lion couchant

Stretching the long #c18th #c18 #18thc to its limit (the Reform Bill, right?), an 1832 Dutch silver tea-caddy (with key!) at Nelson & Nelson, NYC

Banyan, Nanjing, before 1750, tailored in Italy before 1760. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, T.77:1, 2-2009

Pair of white porcelain candlesticks with wide bases, rimmed with ormolu. Painted with garlands of pink roses tied with blue ribbons surrounding larger roses amidst gold dots.

Vincennes mark

Alfred Hache & Co. mark

The two marks together

Candlesticks marked with the Vincennes interlaced double L and date letter for 1755, but don't get too excited: also the mark of Alfred Hache & Co., who (like its contemporary Edmé Samson et cie) reproduced #c18th #c18 #18thc French porcelain in the late 19th century and early 20th.

Portrait of a man in 18th-century clothes, wearing a brown coat edged with fur and a shoulder-length curled grey wig. He is seated and gazes directly at the viewer.

Died #OnThisDay 1743 John Hervey, 2nd Baron Hervey, MP for Bury St Edmunds 1725-33 when he was called to the Lords by writ of acceleration.
A fabulously caustic observer of the Georgian court, his letters and memoirs both inform and infuriate.
#HistParl

In North America, we would substitute ‘poodle’ or just ‘dog’ for ‘owl’

Jane Austen was a satirist – why isn’t she treated like one? Although many women writers were critiquing society in the 18th century, hardly any of them were considered satirists.

Jane Austen was a satirist – why isn’t she treated like one?
theconversation.com/jane-austen-...

'He had a particular fondness for antique dining tables, owning one for nearly every day of the week.'

Goals! From the obituary for the librarian Geoffrey Groom (1939-2024) in the most recent Bodleian Library Record. For the record I have only three! @bodleian.ox.ac.uk

Octagonal oil on canvas in gilt wood frame, featuring nine busts within feigned oval cartouches. Previously thought to be a group of later Jacobite luminaries, including Prince Charles Edward and Flora Macdonald

Circle of William Aikman (1683 – 1721), group portrait of Sir David Nairne, his wife (Marie Elizabeth Compigny) and their dependants, at Lyon & Turnbull (est. £3,000-5,000) #Jacobite #c18th #c18 #18thc

And it’s the Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors!

Of Strawberry Hill!

From the catalogue: 'altered circa 1780 to a robe à la polonaise style, of dark plum (purple/brown) coloured silk with small brocade flower sprigs all over interspersed with larger floral sprays, high square neckline at the back and an open front, with attached panel without stomacher, three quarter length sleeves and full long skirt, the inside part lined on the front edges and the hem of skirt in green silk and linen, some further later alterations.' Has been on long-term loan to the Royal Collection at Holyroodhouse for almost a century, featured in the big Jacobite exhibition @ntlmusuemsscot.bsky.social in 2017, now being sold by Lord Airlie

Back view - close up

Back view

Detail of fabric

Dress, 'by repute' (and family tradition) worn by Margaret Ogilvy, Countess of Airlie, when presented (as Lady Ogilvy) to Prince Charles Edward at Holyroodhouse in 1745. At Lyon & Turnbull, Edinburgh, 20 August (est. £8,000-12,000) #Jacobite #c18th #c18 #18thc

Vitrines on the staircase of the museum displaying various items from the Macdonald gift with backdrops of floral elements derived from the pieces themselves, in the characteristic blue, turquoise and orange of Arita porcelain

https://www.gardinermuseum.on.ca/event/in-search-of-imperfection-the-macdonald-collection-of-japanese-and-japanese-inspired-ceramics/

Now on display for the first time, all 300 pieces from the Macdonald Collection of 17C and #c18th #c18 #18thc Japanese and Japanese-inspired ceramics at the George R Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, Toronto

Floreat Magdalena!

(1) Bronze medal by John Roettiers (1631-1701) with portrait bust of Charles I on obv., rev. with commemorative scene mourning Charles I's execution; (2) silvered metal with a portrait bust of William III and Mary II dated '1689' on obv., rev. with allegorical scene of the personification of England and the House of Orange-Nassau embracing; (3) silvered-metal with portrait bust of 'James III'and the motto VNICA SALVS obv., rev. with allegorical scene of the White Horse of Hanover trampling symbols of England beneath the motto QVID GRAVIVS CAPTA, dated 1721; (4) silvered metal with portrait bust of George I obv., rev. the White Horse of Hanover leaping over a map of Europe toward the British Isles; (5) a bronze example commemorating George III surviving the assassination attempt of 15 May 1800

Group of British historical/commemorative medals, one #Jacobite, one anti-, from the 17c and #c18th #c18 #18thc, at Freeman's/Hindman, Chicago (est. US$400-600)

A still life showing paper in various forms: folded to make a kind of tetrahedron, a little scrap of an almanac page (notice the red ink), the marbled paper that I mentioned in the post, a map of military fortifications, a playing card. And a chess board?

To cheer some of us up on a hard day, this watercolor still life from 1710, signed W. Chr. Semmler. The bookseller selling it in 2019 thought it might be the 1st depiction of marbled paper. What do my #BookHistory mutuals think?
I wonder who bought it: maybe it was you @catrionamac.bsky.social ?