Lot Essay
Prince Charles Edward Stuart, known also as the Young Pretender or Bonnie Prince Charlie, later became King Charles III of Scotland. The laurel-wreathed medallion derives from an engraving by Andrew Warren, that was possibly inspired by Antonio David's 1732 portrait of the youthful Prince. See David Nicholas, The Portraits of Bonnie Prince Charlie, 1973, fig.A, pp.14 and 15; the portrait in the engraving surmounts an extract from Virgil, which may be translated as 'Ye Gods who are powerful over the sea, the land and storms, the way is simple with a strong wind and following breeze', and which can be seen as a political comment on the Prince. The highlanders, with rifle and bagpipes, derive from a set of prints, engraved by George Bickham and issued in 1743 by John Bowles of Cornhill. It is widely accepted that they represent Rifleman Shaw and Piper Macdonnel, two Jacobite martyrs, and the engraving of the piper was also to feature as the frontispiece for A Short History of the Highland Regiment of 1743.
This is the finest preserved of five documented bowls that no doubt formed part of a single cargo. See David Sanctuary Howard, Chinese Porcelain of the Jacobites, Country Life, 25 January 1973 for a discussion of the subject; and by the same author, A Tale of Three Cities, London 1997, Exhibition Catalogue, no.135, p.112, where a plate from a dinner service made around the same time depicting the piper and rifleman is illustrated, and mention is made of punch-bowls similar to the present lot. Other such plates are illustrated by M. Beurdeley, op.cit., 1962, pl.XIX, p.99 for the Musée Guimet example, also illustrated by M. Beurdeley and G. Raindre, op.cit., 1987, no. 278, and by F.& N. Hervouët and Y. Bruneau, op.cit., 1986, fig.9.90; by D. F. Lunsingh Scheurleer, op.cit., 1974, fig.205, p.221 for the example in the Zeeuws Museum, Middleburg; by D. S. Howard and J. Ayers, op.cit., 1978, vol.I, no.234, p.239 for the Mottahedeh example; by Susan Leiper, Precious Cargo, Scots and the China Trade, 1997, front cover, for the example in the National Museum of Scotland; and for a pair of plates in the Helena Woolworth McCann Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, see C. Le Corbeiller, op.cit., 1974, no.38, pp. 94 and 95, where the two engravings by Bickham are also illustrated as figs.51 and 52. A punch-bowl with another portrait of Prince Charles Edward Stuart on the exterior, was sold in these Rooms, 16 November 1981, lot 149 and is illustrated by F. & N. Hervouët and Y. Bruneau ibid., no.9.87, p.223.
Fingask Castle, Rait, By Perth, was purchased by Sir Stewart Threipland in 1783 and was to house many portraits and relics displaying Threipland loyalty to the Jacobite cause. Some of these were lent by William Murray Threipland to the 1889 'Exhibition of the Royal House of Stuart', held at the New Gallery, London.
This is the finest preserved of five documented bowls that no doubt formed part of a single cargo. See David Sanctuary Howard, Chinese Porcelain of the Jacobites, Country Life, 25 January 1973 for a discussion of the subject; and by the same author, A Tale of Three Cities, London 1997, Exhibition Catalogue, no.135, p.112, where a plate from a dinner service made around the same time depicting the piper and rifleman is illustrated, and mention is made of punch-bowls similar to the present lot. Other such plates are illustrated by M. Beurdeley, op.cit., 1962, pl.XIX, p.99 for the Musée Guimet example, also illustrated by M. Beurdeley and G. Raindre, op.cit., 1987, no. 278, and by F.& N. Hervouët and Y. Bruneau, op.cit., 1986, fig.9.90; by D. F. Lunsingh Scheurleer, op.cit., 1974, fig.205, p.221 for the example in the Zeeuws Museum, Middleburg; by D. S. Howard and J. Ayers, op.cit., 1978, vol.I, no.234, p.239 for the Mottahedeh example; by Susan Leiper, Precious Cargo, Scots and the China Trade, 1997, front cover, for the example in the National Museum of Scotland; and for a pair of plates in the Helena Woolworth McCann Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, see C. Le Corbeiller, op.cit., 1974, no.38, pp. 94 and 95, where the two engravings by Bickham are also illustrated as figs.51 and 52. A punch-bowl with another portrait of Prince Charles Edward Stuart on the exterior, was sold in these Rooms, 16 November 1981, lot 149 and is illustrated by F. & N. Hervouët and Y. Bruneau ibid., no.9.87, p.223.
Fingask Castle, Rait, By Perth, was purchased by Sir Stewart Threipland in 1783 and was to house many portraits and relics displaying Threipland loyalty to the Jacobite cause. Some of these were lent by William Murray Threipland to the 1889 'Exhibition of the Royal House of Stuart', held at the New Gallery, London.