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A VERY FINE PAIR OF SPANISH BRONZE CANNON BY MATHIAS SOLANO, THE ROYAL GUNFOUNDRY, SEVILLE, THE GIFT OF GEORGE III TO MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN GRAVES SIMCOE IN 1798, FOR SERVICES IN THE WEST INDIES

DATED 1747

Details

A VERY FINE PAIR OF SPANISH BRONZE CANNON BY MATHIAS SOLANO, THE ROYAL GUNFOUNDRY, SEVILLE, THE GIFT OF GEORGE III TO MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN GRAVES SIMCOE IN 1798, FOR SERVICES IN THE WEST INDIES
Dated 1747
With very minor differences, each finely cast in relief, decorated with bands of flowers at either end of the chase, alternate bands of scrolling foliage at the muzzle astragal and at the second reinforce, the chase cast with two ribband scrolls, the larger carrying the inscription 'Violati Fulmina Regis', the smaller carrying the name of each gun, one 'El Seneca' and the other 'El Marte', each with a pair of lifting handles formed as marine grotesques, the small State arms of Spain encircled by both the Order of the Golden Fleece and the Order of Saint Espirit and incorporating the scroll incription 'Ferdinand. Vide Hispan. Et Ind. Rex' all in relief over the first reinforce, and a further band of flowers at the base, with decorated vent raised within a further flowerhead pattern encircling the field, the base ring signed 'Solano Fecit. Hispali. Anno 1747', with globular cascable emerging from a calyx, and the trunnion ends each cut with a series of abbreviated Spanish references to weight and calibre: each on a modern wooden truck carriage with early 19th Century iron trunnion-plates and cap squares; sold together with a quantity of transcribed correspondance addressed both to and from John Graves Simcoe over the period 1798-1806, in direct reference to these cannon, and with further transcriptions of modern correspondance also of related interest.
41½in (105,5cm) barrels overall (3)

Provenance

Removed from the revolutionary garrison at Port au Prince, Haiti (St.Domingo) following its capture by the British in 1793, and the subsequent withdrawal in March 1798.

Presented by King George III to Major-General John Graves Simcoe (at his request), commander of British forces in Haiti 1796-97. The letter of Royal consent signed by H.R.H the Duke of York and dated 2nd March 1798.

Removed to Wolford Lodge, Honiton, Devon, the Simcoe family seat.
Thence by descent, the cannon remaining at Wolford Lodge until their sale to Herbert K. Reeves, Esq., of Leatherhead, Surrey, circa 1923.

The cannon presented by Reeves to Leatherhead Urban District Council (now the Mole Valley District Council, the present owner), in 1940.

Literature

A.N. Kennard, Gunfounding & Gunfounders, London, 1986, p. 141

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium, which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

The calibre of the cannon is almost certainly 3-pounder although 4-pounder is given in one piece of contemporary correspondance. The original carriages were of the 'Butterfly' or 'Grasshopper' type, with no provision for a limber (Spicer to Simcoe, 16 May, 1800). The present carriages were constructed as copies of those made for Simcoe by the Ordnance Office, the Tower of London, in July 1800; the present iron parts date from this period.

Mathias Solano was Director of the Royal Gunfoundry at Seville (Hispali), circa 1703-1755.

Details of the transcribed Simcoe correspondance, together with biographical notes, are available upon request.

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