Lot Essay
Ice pails were used to keep food cold. See footnote to lot 165 for a fuller explanation of the way the shape evolved
MORNING SESSION AT 10.30 A.M. PRECISELY
QING BLUE AND WHITE
FROM THE DRUMMOND SERVICES
THE PROPERTY OF THE EARL OF PERTH
(Lots 1-57)
The following lots are sold by the direct descendant of Mr. James Drummond, a grandson of Viscount Strathallan, killed at Culloden in 1745. He is much mentioned in Morse's History of the East India Company and as a young man was, with Thomas Fitzhugh Jr., assistant to the Head of the Committee at Canton in 1792. By 1800 he was a member of the Select Committee there and the following year became President - a post he held until 1807 when he returned to Scotland, where two years later he married the daughter of the Duke of Atholl and in 1824 was restored to the titles forfeited by his grandfather.
In Canton he had been well placed to choose some large dinner services including 'Fitzhugh' and 'Scholar & Emblem' patterns which have remained in his family ever since, and of which a considerable part are on offer today including a number of rare forms and some hitherto unrecorded fluted dishes in the 'Fitzhugh' style.
What provides considerable extra interest to this group - all procured before 1807 - is that almost all are of exactly the patterns found in the cargo of the country ship Diana, which foundered off the coast near Malacca in March 1817 en route for Madras (sold at Christie's Amsterdam, March 1995).
It is open to speculation as to whether the cargo of the Diana, sailing to India, was in part composed of porcelain which had been in stock at Canton for some years - it was certainly very similar to that which Mr. James Drummond had brought back in 1807. The fact that the Hon. East India Company had ceased to order porcelain on its own account in the 1790s is known to have led to such stocks.
Mr. Drummond's house and his garden are still to be found in Macao, where they now form a city museum.
A PAIR OF BLUE AND WHITE 'FITZHUGH-PATTERN' ICE-PAILS AND COVERS
CIRCA 1800
Details
A PAIR OF BLUE AND WHITE 'FITZHUGH-PATTERN' ICE-PAILS AND COVERS
circa 1800
Each finely painted on both sides with a roundel enclosing pomegranate, finger citrus and and stylized animals surrounded by four peony blooms amidst various leafy floral sprays and auspicious objects, applied with two curling foliate handles, the cover surmounted by a loop finial, one with large rim chip restuck
11in. (28cm.) high (2)
circa 1800
Each finely painted on both sides with a roundel enclosing pomegranate, finger citrus and and stylized animals surrounded by four peony blooms amidst various leafy floral sprays and auspicious objects, applied with two curling foliate handles, the cover surmounted by a loop finial, one with large rim chip restuck
11in. (28cm.) high (2)