A PAIR OF VICTORIAN POLYCHROME-DECORATED PINE TRADE SIGNS IN THE FORM OF HIGHLAND SCOTS
A PAIR OF VICTORIAN POLYCHROME-DECORATED PINE TRADE SIGNS IN THE FORM OF HIGHLAND SCOTS

LATE 19TH CENTURY

细节
A PAIR OF VICTORIAN POLYCHROME-DECORATED PINE TRADE SIGNS IN THE FORM OF HIGHLAND SCOTS
Late 19th century
The figures standing dressed in traditional garb with green kilt and sash over a red jacket, with a plumed hat, possibly pinching snuff in the right hand, on an integral square base, largely redecorated, each with one brass tag LK491 and LK492
31in. (79cm.) high, 9in. (23cm.) wide, 7in. (18cm.) deep (2)

拍品专文

After the Act of Union between England and Scotland in 1707, Glasgow became one of the chief ports for the importation of American tobacco. Consequently, the figure of a Highlander became a common sign for a tobacconist, frequently represented holding a snuff mull of horn with a pinch of snuff in the raised hand.

In the 1720s, the shop of the tobacconist David Wishart ('at ye Highlander, Thistle and Crown', Coventry Street, London) became something of a Jacobite rendezvous. Wishhart was one of the first tobacconists to use the figure of a Highlander as a sign, but the Blackamoor and tobacco roll were more traditional subjects for signs at these shops.

Related figures include one illustrated in E.H. Pinto, Treen and other Wooden Bygones, 1969, p. 439. Another eighteenth century figure from the Judkyn/Pratt Collection of British Folk Art was sold Christie's South Kensington, 8 November 1995, lot 86. A further Georgian figure from the same collection was sold in these Rooms, 21-22 January 1998, lot 346 ($6,900). And a nineteenth century figure was sold from the British Interior sale, Christie's New York, 24-25 January 2001, lot 534 ($6,462).