RICHARD GIBSON (BRITISH, 1615-1690)

Details

RICHARD GIBSON (BRITISH, 1615-1690)
Sir Henry Blount (1602-1682), in black doublet and white lawn collar, brown curling hair
inscribed 'S^{r<\sup>. H. B / Aetat / 58' (mid-right)

on vellum

oval, 2¼ in. (57 mm.) high, gold frame with pale blue enamelled spiral cresting, the reverse enamelled with a central black and white rosette on pale blue ground, with black and white scalloped borders and black-striped pale blue sides}

Provenance

The Countess of Caledon, in 1865.
Thence by direct family descent; Christie's, London, 10 July 1990, lot 160.

Literature

J. J. Foster, Samuel Cooper and the English Miniature Painters of the XVII Century, London, 1914-1916, no. 123, pl. XLVIII (as by Samuel Cooper).

Exhibited

London, South Kensington Museum, Special Exhibition of Portrait Miniatures, 1865, no. 1192 (lent by the Countess of Caledon).

Brought to you by

Katharine Cooke

kcooke@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2343

Lot Essay

Sir Henry Blount (1602-1682) was the son of Thomas (later Sir Thomas) Blount (1556-1639) and Frances Pigot (c. 1564-1619). In 1647 he married Hester (c. 1620-1678), widow of Sir William Mainwaring of Chester, by whom he had four children. Best known for his extensive travels to the Middle East, he published an account of his travels in A Voyage into the Levant (1636). On his return, Blount became a gentleman pensioner to Charles I and was knighted in 1639. He remained loyal to the Royalist cause until the execution of Charles I in 1649, switching allegiance and serving Cromwell. Upon the Restoration in 1661, Blount supported the new king and became Sheriff of Hertfordshire. He spent the remainder of his life in Tittenhanger, the town of his birth, writing and collecting.

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