Live Auction 10397Centuries of Style: Silver, European Ceramics, Portrait Miniatures and Gold Boxes
ATTRIBUTED TO JOHN TAYLOR (BRITISH, 1739-1838)
Lot 492

ATTRIBUTED TO JOHN TAYLOR (BRITISH, 1739-1838)

Closed3 June 2015

Price Realised

GBP 2,250

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ATTRIBUTED TO JOHN TAYLOR (BRITISH, 1739-1838)
Countess Jane Macartney, née Stuart (1742-1828), in mauve dress, her upswept powdered hair dressed in ringlets
Enamel
Oval, 41 mm. high, gold frame with JM monogram reverse

The late George Travers Lucy Macartney; Sotheby's, London, 31 March 1949, lot 86 (as by John Smart, 'extremely rare', 52 gns. to Hans E. Backer).
Sotheby's, London, 27 February 1990, lot 18 (as by John Taylor after John Smart, and described as signed and dated 'I. Taylor / Pinxt 1786' on the reverse).
Sotheby's, London, 7 November 1996, lot 235 (as by John Taylor, after John Smart, signed and dated 1786 on the reverse).
With D. S. Lavender (Antiques) Ltd., in 1997 (as by John Taylor, signed and dated 1786).
The late Mrs T.S. Eliot (1926-2012) Collection, London.

Specialist note

The sitter was the third daughter and fifth child of Prime Minister John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute and his wife Mary née Wortley Montagu, making her a grandchild of the writer and traveller Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. In 1768, she married George Macartney (1737-1806), later 1st Earl Macartney, Ambassador to Russia 1764-1768, and Chief Secretary of Ireland 1775-1779. In 1792, Macartney also headed the first embassy to China. She died without children.
An identical enamel miniature of Countess Jane Macartney, formerly in the collection of C. H. Samuelson; sold Christie's, London, 9 February 1960, lot 47 (as by John Smart), is in the National Gallery of Ireland (inv. no. NGI 19264), see P. Caffrey, Treasures to Hold. Irish and English Miniatures 1650-1850 from the National Gallery of Ireland Collection, Dublin, 2000, p. 188, illustrated (as 'After John Smart, copy of a watercolour miniature').