Henry Gawler (1766-1852) and his brother John Bellenden Ker (1765?-1842) holding a portfolio, as children with their dog

Details

HENRY BONE, R.A. (BRITISH, 1755-1834)
Henry Gawler (1766-1852) and his brother John Bellenden Ker (1765?-1842) holding a portfolio, as children with their dog
signed on the obverse 'HBone' (lower right) and signed, dated and inscribed in full on the counter-enamel 'Decr & D. Henry Gawler & John Bellenden Ker, surviving Children of John & Caroline Gawler.- London Oct.r 1820. Painted by Henry Bone R. A. Enamel=Painter to Her Majesty after the Original picture by the late S.r Joshua Reynolds P.R.A. &c &c'
enamel on copper
rectangular, 5¾ x 4½ in. (148 x 114 mm.), gilt-metal frame

Provenance

Sir Bernard Eckstein Bt.; (+) Sotheby's, London, 31 March 1949, lot 117 (£48 to Nyburg).
Sotheby's, London, 29 November 1976, lot 33.
Sotheby's, London, 4 December 1985, lot 262.
Koller, Zurich, 17 November 1987, lot 1756.

Literature

D. Foskett, Collecting Miniatures, Woodbridge, 1979, illustrated p. 303, pl. 79C.
H. E. R. Martin, Miniaturen des Rokoko, Empire und Biedermeier, Munich, 1981, illustrated p. 66 fig. 52.
D. Foskett, Miniatures: Dictionary and Guide, Woodbridge, 1987, illustrated pl. 79C, p. 303.
R. Walker, 'Henry Bone's Pencil Drawings', The Walpole Society, LXI, 1999, p. 326, no. 214.

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

Henry Gawler and John Bellenden Ker sat to Reynolds in 1777. This miniature is taken from 'The Schoolboys' (illustrated E. K. Waterhouse, Reynolds, London, 1941, p. 188).
John Bellenden became Captain in the Guards in 1790 and took the name of Ker-Bellenden by sign manual in 1805 at the instance of William, 4th Duke of Roxburghe who had appointed him as his heir. This was over-ruled in the Roxburghe peerage case. He was a botanist, wit and man of fashion.

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