neil guthrie

@nguthrie

Collector. Antiquary. The Material Culture of the Jacobites (2014). Guthrie’s Guide to Better Legal Writing (2017, 2021). Trustee, George R Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, Toronto

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Bluesky

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neil guthrie@nguthrie· 15d

Porcelain snuffbox with gold mounts (Chantilly, c1740), with Lefays, Somerset (but sadly too expensive for me) #c18 #c18th #18thc

Dealer’s description ‘An 18th-century, circa 1740, Chantilly soft-paste porcelain snuff box with gold mounts (tested as 18 carat), decorated in Kakiemon colours, with chinoiserie scenes, unmarked. Note: Gold mounts are rare. Most Chantilly snuff box mounts are either gilt metal or silver.’
Measurements
Diameter: 6 cm (2.4 in)
Height: 3.5 cm (1.4 in)
Depth (front to back, including mounts): 6.5 cm (2.6 in)
Side view. White porcelain with a rock and foliage in pale turquoise

The other side - orange chrysanthemums with green leaves

View of the box with lid open. The interior of the box is blank, the underside of the lid painted with flowers and rocks in pale orange, blue and turquoise. A bird flutters above

neil guthrie@nguthrie· 16d

We love a good hater, and they abounded in the #c18 #c18th #18thc. What we don't love is the retail price of this book: C$170.50! 😳 (Enjoying the contents, however)

Cover of Thomas Leonard-Roy, Writerly Hate in Eighteenth-Century Britain (OUP, 2026) with a hand-coloured engraving of Dr Syntax asleep in his library by Thomas Rowlandson. The doctor, bewigged and dressed in black, dozes in a red armchair beside a table with books in it, bookshelves in the background. Above him flutter little figures with human heads, tadpole tails and open books for wings

neil guthrie@nguthrie· 18d

Silver hot-water urn by Paul Storr (London, 1809), with Nelson & Nelson, NYC. (Long) #c18 #c18th #18thc

Dealer's description:
Round and girdled bowl on raised foot mounted to square base with splayed leaf-capped volute-scroll terminals. Cover domed with flower-bud finial. Leaf and shell-capped bracket side handles with lion-head mounts. Tubular horizontal spout terminating in goose head; scallop shell twist-tap with patera mounts. Gadrooning. Engraved armorial. Finial has pierced plug that can be lifted to release steam. To same end, detachable liner is pierced. Detachable tubular well holds heating. Overall dimensions: H 14 1/2 x W 16 3/4 x D 15 1/2 in. Heavy weight: 168 troy ounces.

neil guthrie@nguthrie· 19d

Enamel box (English, c1780) #c18 #c18th #18thc

Small (about 2.5 cm/1 in across) rectangular box with pink sides. On the white enamel lid, a transfer print engraving of a scroll bearing the words ‘A Token of Esteem’ in script, propped against a covered neo-classical urn at the base of a tree. In the background, there is view of a church with a spire. The lid is edged in brass. Probably made in Staffordshire and intended for snuff

neil guthrie@nguthrie· 20d

King’s College (now Columbia University) Literary Society prize medal, awarded to James Creighton in 1770, at Spink (starting bid at US$30,000) #c18 #c18th #18thc

Catalogue:
One of only four believed known. The first civilian prize to be awarded in America still to exist
James Creighton (1751-1822), was a New York-born lawyer and Loyalist who graduated from King’s College in 1770.
Silver Hand-Engraved Prize Medal, 1770, attributed to Elisha Gallaudet, awarded to James Creighton (1751-1822), COLLEGII REGALIS NOVI EBORACI IN AMERICA PRÆMIUM LITERARIUM IACOBO CREIGHTON | IN • LUMINE • TUO • • VIDEBIMUS • LUMEN •, college seal designed by Reverend Samuel Johnson, with maternal figure of Alma Mater seated on throne at centre, surrounded by three infants, whom she teaches from book in outstretched hand. Radiant sun rises behind. Scroll reads "God's Light" in Hebrew and "God" in Hebrew in radiant border above. 1ST. PET . II . I . 2, in exergue, signature below, rev. EXIMIO • JUVENI • PROPTER • INSIGNES • IN • ARTIBUS • PROGRESSUS, Minerva standing holding spear, presents medal to a student dressed in academic robes, 1770 A.D. below, 33.56g, 64.5mm (Columbia Medals Collection, 5/227), small edge bruise and general light surface marking, otherwise a skilfully executed hand-engraving, with a pleasing old-cabinet tone to lustrous surfaces, extremely fine and of the GREATEST RARITY, this being only the fourth known example and only the third named to a recipient.

neil guthrie@nguthrie· 21d

Chinese exportware fishbowl (c1765), with Earle D Vandekar of Knightsbridge #c18 #c18th #18thc

Large famille rose fishbowl, 61 cm (24 in) high, 58.4 cm (23 in) across. White porcelain painted with a continuous fenced garden scene with flowering tree peonies and weathered garden rocks, songbirds perched in the trees. Two lion-mask handles at the shoulders.

Interior: diaper-pattern border punctuated by floral vignettes, large goldfish and green weeds in the well

neil guthrie@nguthrie· 22d

7-inch silver salver (London, 1765), with Nelson & Nelson, NYC #c18 #c18th #18thc

Alternating S- and C-scroll rim interspersed with scallop shells. Well has engraved leafing and flower scroll surround; centre vacant. Three hoof supports. Fully marked including maker’s stamp attributed to Thomas Hannam (or Hammond) and John Carter, and London assay stamp.

neil guthrie@nguthrie· 23d

Palaeographers/oenophiles of Bluesky! Can you decipher the second line (after 'Burgundy') written in ink on the back of this typical 19C ceramic bin label for Claret? I think the first bit is Dom[aine], then Ne… [not sure what]

Ceramic bin label with curved shoulders, straight bottom and hole at the top for suspension. Glazed white reverse with ‘Burgundy’ written in ink followed by the mystery words

Front of the label - glazed white ceramic with CLARET in underglaze letters

neil guthrie@nguthrie· 24d

(Not quite) a pair of silver patch boxes (London, c1730), one with the mark of William Hutchison the younger ('smallworker', Grimwade 3884), the other unmarked #c18 #c18th #18thc

One is 1 inch (2.54 cm) high, the other 1 1/8 inches (2.85 cm)

Seen from the top, showing their shape: two short, straight sides and two longer, rounded sides

Hinged lids open, one showing the maker's mark on the underside of the lid, one blank

Scratched on the base of one box, the initials KV

neil guthrie@nguthrie· 25d

Plate (Chelsea, c1755), George R Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, Toronto #c18 #c18th #18thc

White porcelain plate with loved edge, painted with a naturalistic leafed branch with fruit, a butterfly and a fly in blues, pale red and pink, pale green. The epitome (perhaps the acme) of English culture, I think.

neil guthrie@nguthrie· 27d

Having completed the Jane Austen reread (unless I get to the letters), here is a little gem, ‘Jane in Vain’ by Paul Jennings (1957) (Long) #c18 #c18th #18thc

JANE IN VAIN by Paul Jennings (1918-1989), published in the Sunday Observer, 1957
I often get lost in the works of Jane Austen
For Jane is my favourite writer:
Suave and satirical, Jane is a miracle,
Who subtler than Jane and who lighter?
With eloquent diction unequalled in fiction
Her characters meet and commingle,
Unlike, say, the martyrs of Camus or Sartre,
So anguished, so lonely – so SINGLE.
Though nil is the ration of bedroom and passion,
When Crawford runs off with Maria
Their sex-life, off-stage in that elegant age,
May still be assumed to have fire.

Such art, with such breeding, makes beautiful reading
But let me confess my dilemma;
I'm only safe when it's Bingleys and Bennets
I mix up Persuasion with Emma.
I've read them all thrice, I recall Fanny Price
Beneath old Sir Thingummy's aegis
Was it this Cinderella, or some Isabella
Who fell off a cliff at Lyme Regis?
I can't recall rightly if Mr. John Knightley
Resided at Donwell or Randalls,
My memory's flabby, is Northanger Abbey
The one with the Willoughby scandals?
I am quite in the dark, is it Mansfield Park
That begins with the Dashwoods all greedy
And planning what cash would be left to John Dashwood
If kept from some relative needy?

No! THEY lived at Norland – with Catherine Morland
Or Rushworth, or Bertram, or Elton,
Or perhaps Marianne, or Miss Elliot (Anne)
In scenes that all Janeites have dwelt on...

Mistress of clarity, what a disparity
Between my response and your art!
But Jane, don't complain, I shall read you again
And again, till I've got you by heart.

neil guthrie@nguthrie· 27d

Pair of silver bottle coasters by Hester Bateman or workshop (London, 1787), with Nelson & Nelson, NYC #c18 #c18th #18thc

Dealer’s description
Straight sides with a pierced colonnade alternating with ovals, one solid and without engraving, the others open and inset with a patter. Pointille and swag borders. Beaded rims and moulded bases. Stained wood well with typical carved concentric rings.

[I say ‘or workshop’ because Hester Bateman farmed out a lot of work, frequently at the expense of quality (although these coasters look nice - wish I could afford them at U$4,500!)]

neil guthrie@nguthrie· 28d

Mustard pot and stand (Vincennes, 1754), George R Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, Toronto #c18 #c18th #18thc

Mustard pot with handle (no lid; would it have had one?) and oval lobed stand (tray) in soft-paste porcelain, overglaze enamels and gilding. Pale blue ground with white panels containign sprays of flowers and a butterfly in the central panel. Marked with interlaced Ls and date mark A for 1754)

neil guthrie@nguthrie· Jul 12

Cat and lunch (Saint-Cloud, c1745), George R Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, Toronto #c18 #c18th #18thc

Figure of a recumbent cat with a very satisfied expression, incised fur and manganese markings, its front paw resting upon a mouse, the rockwork base splashed in brown, yellow, red and manganese.

neil guthrie@nguthrie· Jul 11

The Jane Austen reread concludes with Sanditon! I do have Chapman's edition of the letters, though … (Long) #c18 #c18th #18thc

Penguin edition (1983) with an aquatint of a lady in a pale blue riding habit, sidesaddle on a capering chestnut mare. From Heideloff’s Gallery of Fashion (1797-98)

neil guthrie@nguthrie· Jul 10

Covered vase by Wedgwood & Bentley (c1775), at Skinner Marlborough (est. US$600-800) #c18 #c18th #18thc

Black basalt ceramic urn with scrolled handles flanking a central classical figure in high relief, possibly depicting Apollo, set atop a socle and square plinth. The cover has a ball finial and laurel & berry banded rim. Some restoration and imperfections.

neil guthrie@nguthrie· Jul 9

Coptic Bible (Oxford, 1716), with Antiquates, Wareham, Dorset. Purportedly the slowest selling book in history: the last of the 500 copies finally sold in 1907. #c18 #c18th #18thc

Title page with engraving of the Sheldonian Theatre

Ti-diatheke m-beri khen ti-aspi nte ni-remkhemi Hoc est Novum Testamentum Ægyptium vulgo Copticum ex MSS. Bodlejanis descripsit, cum Vaticanis et Parisiensibus contulit, et in Latinum sermonem convertit David Wilkins...
Oxonii [i.e. Oxford]. E Theatro Sheldoniano, 1716. First edition.
Quarto. [8], XL, 676pp. Text in parallel columns of Coptic and Latin. First six words of title transliterated from the Coptic. With an engraved title page. Modern cloth, rebacked. Rubbed and marked. Hinges reinforced, library label of the General Theological Seminary to FEP, with their blind-stamps to title page, leaf N6 and terminal leaf, nineteenth century ownership inscription to verso of FFEP, some marginal loss to leaves B3-4.

neil guthrie@nguthrie· Jul 8

Silver medal by Thomas Pingo commemorating the recapture of Carlisle (1745). On eBay now. Attractive tone but quite worn. Anti- #Jacobite #c18 #c18th #18thc

Obverse: bust of William, Duke of Cumberland, in armour, looking right. Signed on the truncation T. PINGO. Inscription: GVLIELMVS DVX CVMBRIÆ

Reverse: a lion overcoming a wolf. Inscription: IVSTITIA TRIVMPHANS (‘Justice triumphant’). In the exergue, MDCCXLV

neil guthrie@nguthrie· Jul 6

Article in the most recent edition of The Medal on coronation medals of Charles III (of Hungary) & VI (Holy Roman Emperor) asserting short-lived ambitions to reunite the Austrian & Spanish Habsburg lines. Those pesky Bourbons! #c18 #c18th #18thc

First page of Daniel Haas Kianička, 'Allegorical Depictions and Inscriptions on the Bratislava Coronation Medals of Charles III from 1712', The Medal 88 (spring 2026), 18-27.

Illustration of a silver medal with Charles's titles surmounted by a crown on the obverse; reverse, a globe encircled by clouds and the legend CONSTANTIA ET FORTITUDINE ('Through perseverance and courage')

Illustration of a silver medal with a bust of Charles in full-bottomed wig and armour, laureate, looking right, with his titles around the edge, oberse; reverse, a pomegranate symbolising fertility and also Charles's claim to the throne of Granada and the other Spanish dominions of the Habsburg dynasty and the legend REGNANDO RECREAT SISTITQVE CRVOREM ('Refresh and revive the royal blood', with some of the letters enlarged to make a chronograph of the year in 1712 in Roman numerals; in the exergue, CORONATIO IN REGEM HUNGARIÆ 1712 ('Coronation in the Kingdon of Hungary 1712')

neil guthrie@nguthrie· Jul 5

Four of ten etchings from GB Tiepolo's Vari Capricci (c1740-43), at Christie's, London (est. £5,000-7,000; seems low?) #c18 #c18th #18thc

Catalogue: On laid paper, one with crossbow watermark , the others without watermark. Fine, early impressions of the only states with small margins, generally in good condition. Plates 140 x 175 mm. (and similar). Sheets 149 x 187 mm. (and similar).

Here, Death (in the form of a skeleton), seated on the ground with a large book in his lap. To the left, figures grouped around a block of masonry look at him intently, a skinny dog to the left with greater wariness.

A young woman with a baby, seated at the base of a tree, with a goat behind.

A group of figures at the base of a classical ruin, one seated and leaning on a large urn.

A group of boys dressed as soldiers. One lying on his stomach, one with his back to the viewer; two others standing, one with a furled flag.

neil guthrie@nguthrie· Jul 4

(Non-British North) American friends, it’s not too late to return! #c18 #c18th #18thc 🇺🇸 🇬🇧 🇨🇦 🍁

Tacky souvenir plate. White pottery with a central blue transfer print of the Loyalist monument in Hamilton, Ont. (man and woman with two small children standing in a group, wearing 18C clothes and anxious expressions). Around the edge: FOR THE UNITY OF THE EMPIRE

Underside with THE UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS’ ASSOCIATION OF CANADA, U.E.L., the cypher of making George III and some text about the Loyalists

neil guthrie@nguthrie· Jul 3

Silver wine cooler (Dublin, 1826), at Bonhams, London (est. £10,000-15,000). With a nice bottle of Grüner Veltliner on ice for the hot weather, perhaps? (Long) #c18 #c18th #18thc

Catalogue:

Mark of Edward Power, also struck with the mark of Edward Twycross, as retailer, Dublin 1826
Of campana form, with detachable liner and collar, the collar with guilloche borders, the main bodies with profusely chased with foliate garlands, with applied cast acanthus leaf border, each side with embossed scrolling cartouches surmounted with eagles, to one cartouche with engraved inscription:
Presented by the Offices of the Constabulary Connaught District much respected & highly Esteemed Inspector General Major George Warburton 1st June 1826', to the other cartouche engraved with the arms of Major George WARBURTON (1777 - 1845), with applied foliate handles, to the lower belly with profuse chased with foliate scrolling, raised on a knopped stem to a spreading circular base with embossed acanthus leaf caps, height 28.8cm, weight 104oz.

neil guthrie@nguthrie· Jul 1

For my country’s national day, the ‘Canada Bowl’ – the earliest known depiction of Canada on porcelain (Meissen, c1724-25), George R Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, Toronto #c18 #c18th #18thc

The exterior painted probably by J.G. Horoldt with trappers, a basket of fruit, a deer and a fox and others with fish and a fox. Their clothes are trimmed in fur in estuary landscape with enriched Böttger-lustre, iron-red, gold and buff cartouches, with indianische Blumen between. The interior has two Chinoiserie figures beside a fence and a pagoda by J. E. Stadler. The rim has gilt scrolls. Hard-paste porcelain with Böttger lustre, overglaze enamels, gilding. Dimensions: 8.2 x 15.5 cm (3 1/4 x 6 1/8 in.)

neil guthrie@nguthrie· Jun 30

General Picton’s medal for the relief of Gibraltar (1783), at Noonans (est. £800-1,000) #c18 #c18th #18thc

Catalogue:
General Picton’s Medal for The Relief of Gibraltar (1783), marking the successful holding of the Rock by the British garrison after a siege by the Spanish and French in 1782. The obverse of the silver medal by Lewis Pingo shows an aerial view of the Bay of Gibraltar, with the fleet to the upper right. To the reverse is an inscription celebrating the victory written across 17 lines within a laurel wreath, a lion holding the Gibraltar coat-of-arms above cartouche below. This 59mm diameter medal is very rare and in nearly extremely fine condition.

neil guthrie@nguthrie· Jun 29

François Boucher, red chalk study of a man wielding a hammer. At Christie’s, London (est. £30,000-50,000) #c18 #c18th #18thc

Catalogue: ‘Study of a male Nude [actually just shirtless; he has some sort of drapery around his middle] wielding a Hammer[.]
red chalk on light brown paper
7 ½ x 7 ¼ in. (19.1 x 18.4 cm.)’

neil guthrie@nguthrie· Jun 28

Four silver salt cellars with blue glass liners by Hester Bateman (or, more probably, workshop) (London, 1788), with Nelson & Nelson, NYC #c18 #c18th #18thc

Dealer’s description
Oval bowl on stepped and same foot. Bright-cut garland interspersed with three patera-inset open rondels and fourth sold rondel engraved with script monogram; between pointille and pierced leaf borders. Beading. Cobalt glass liner. Fully marked. Very good condition. One liner has tiny nick. Dimensions: H 2 1/2 x L 4 1/4 x W 2 1/2 in. Total weight (silver only): 8.5 troy ounces.

More of Hester Bateman’s frankly average work ;)

neil guthrie@nguthrie· Jun 27

Pair of vases with stands (vases hollandois), Sèvres, 1758, at Bonhams, London (est. £30,000-50,000) - I wish! #c18 #c18th #18thc

Painted by Mathieu Fouré with trailing flowers issuing from diagonal pink ground panels edged in gilding shaded in brown and from a pink-ground border edged with gilt scrollwork, the bases with pierced scrollwork panels, gilt trellis panels and further panels with flowers, gilt dentil borders to the rims, 17.8cm high; 17.8cm wide, interlaced LL monograms in blue, the stands with date letter E and painter's mark oe for Fouré in blue, incised marks (4)

neil guthrie@nguthrie· Jun 26

Joseph Wright of Derby, portrait of Harry Peckham (1740-1787), at Christie’s, London (est. £250,000-300,000) #c18 #c18th #18thc

Three-quarter-length, in the livery of the Markeaton Hunt (scarlet waistcoat, blue coat, buff breeches), holding a hat, with a terrier at his side. Gilt wood frame with scrollwork

neil guthrie@nguthrie· Jun 25

Copper (seller suggests 'bronzed white metal') medal commemorating the death of Princess Louise Marie, sister of 'James III and VIII' (1712), on eBay now (but I'm not bidding; it's taken some knocks and I have a better example, as well as one in silver) #c18 #c18th #18thc #Jacobite