Live Auction 10398Centuries of Style: Silver, European Ceramics, Portrait Miniatures and Gold Boxes
ENGLISH SCHOOL
Lot 424

ENGLISH SCHOOL

Closed2 December 2015

Price Realised

GBP 2,500

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ENGLISH SCHOOL

An unfinished portrait of a lady called Mrs Jordan, née Dorothea Bland (1762-1816), in white dress and large hat with ostrich plumes
On ivory
Oval, 70 mm. high, gilt-metal frame with blue glass reverse on guilloché foil, the surround engraved 'Dorothy Bland, Mrs Jordan, by Rdus. Cosway. R.A. 1798'

Possibly The Earls of Munster, presumably by descent from the sitter's family.
Possibly Edward Marjoribanks, 2nd Baron Tweedmouth (1849-1909), in 1895.
Sotheby's, London, 11 November 1993, lot 13.

Specialist note

The sitter was an Anglo-Irish actress, courtesan and the mistress and companion of the Duke of Clarence, later King William IV. Her career began with the role of Phoebe in As you Like it in Dublin, and subsequently in the role of Lady Teazle in Brinsley Sheridan's The School for Scandal in London. Her relationship with the Duke of Clarence began in 1791 and she lived with him at Bushy House. They had ten children together and when they parted in 1811 she was given a yearly stipend and custody of their daughters, while the Duke retained custody of the sons. The arrangement of her stipend stipulated that she should not return to the stage. On doing so, to help a son-in-law with a debt, the Duke cut her off and removed their daughters from her care. She fled to France in 1815 to avoid her creditors and died in poverty a year later.