A young gentleman, in green coat with green covered buttons, white waistcoat and lace cravat, powdered hair

Details

PETER PAILLOU (BRITISH, FL. C. 1757 - AFTER 1831)
A young gentleman, in green coat with green covered buttons, white waistcoat and lace cravat, powdered hair
signed and dated 'P.Paillou . 1793.' (mid-right)
oval, 2 5/8 in. (67 mm.) high, silver-gilt frame

Provenance

Gifted by Auguste Belmont to Juliana, Baroness Mayer Amschel de Rothschild, née Cohen (1831-1877).
Thence by descent.
Rothschild and Rosebery Collection, Mentmore; Sotheby's, 11 February 1999, lot 97.

Literature

Hannah, Lady Rosebery, Mentmore Inventory, 1883, p. 110, no. 198 as 'Washington black coat, powdered hair Given to Meyer de Rothschild by Mr Auguste Belmont of New York George Washington, 1732-1799, celebrated General, and the great founder of American Independence, came of an old English family which traced its orgins to the Norman Conquest.'

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

August Belmont (1813-1890) had been a clerk in the Rothschild's Frankfurt office before he travelled to America where he became their New York agent. It had been intended that he should establish a business in Havana but when he arrived in New York in 1837 he found himself in the middle of a financial crisis and took it upon himself to sort out the business of the Rothschild's agents in New York and having completed this, settled in New York. He was a frequent visitor to the Rothschilds in London in the 1860s and emulated their collecting passion.
We are grateful to Melanie Aspey, Director of the Rothschild Archive, for her help with this catalogue entry.

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