Cover of Richard Maher’s new biography of Sir Charles Wogan (‘Jacobite, soldier, royal agent & man of letters) with a portrait of the subject in a full-bottomed wig and red coat against a background that looks like a gold-tooled leather book-binding and above a landscape with a palace (which I am not sure!)

Looking forward to learning more about Wogan (most famous for his daring rescue of Princess Maria Clementina Sobieska from the captors trying to foil her marriage to the #Jacobite claimant in 1719, but who lived for another 35 years) #c18 #c18th #18thc

Oval Jasperware portrait plaque, 4.5 in x 3 7/16 in. Pale green background, bust of Bentley in white. He looks to the right, dressed in a frock coat with large buttons, loose cravat with lace edges, hair natural, tied back in a long ponytail, curled at the sides; receding hairline. BENTLEY on the base of his truncated right arm. It looks like there is a tiny scuff to the right of Bentley’s chest, just below the cravat

On eBay, a portrait medallion of Thomas Bentley (Josiah Wedgwood's business partner), modelled by Joachim Smith for Wedgwood, 1773 #c18 #c18th #18thc

The New Building at Magdwlen College. Built in tue 1730s. Classical facade in honey-coloured stone with a colonnade and wisteria. Immaculate green lawns. Blue sky. Very symmetrical.

There's no place like home

MARKS Under the saucer, interlaced Ls in dark blue surrounding a dot with another below, under the cup interlaced L’s in light blue with three dots, one each above, within and below. Near the rim of the saucer is an incised scrolling c. MEASUREMENTS Cup: 3 in. (7.7 cm) in diameter, 3 3/4 in. (9.5 cm) with handle, 3 in. (7.7 cm) in height. Saucer: 5 3/8 in. (13.7 cm) in diameter.

An interesting handle, somewhat rarely seen on Vincennes porcelain.

The other side of the cup, nicely-decorated.

Bonhams, London, Sale 29422, 500 Years of European Ceramics Including the Twinight Collection Part II, 3 December 2024, lot 180.

A circa 1752 Vincennes porcelain cup and saucer, decorated with Meissen-inspired holzschnitt-blumen (wood-cut) flower sprays and gilt line rims. I rather like that scrolling twisty gilt handle on the cup.

US$5,500 :(

Panels of blue and white tile, cut to follow the undulating shapes of two muscular mermen facing each other and holding large shells over their heads, their bodies terminating in scrollwork

Pair of tile panels depicting mermen (Portugal, c1770), with Earle D. Vandekar of Knightsbridge #c18 #c18th #18thc

Irregular shape following the rococo scrollwork that surrounds the central panels on each side. Obv., in relief, 'a figure seated by a pyramid with scroll and globe, offers a sword to three members, the background a rising sun with zodiacal signs from Scorpio, Libra, Leo, Taurus and Virgo on band above, highly ornate floral and acanthus leaf border up to integral suspension loop.' Rev. coat of arms of the Stephens family of Froxfield, Wiltshire. Catalogue: 'The Gregorians were a fraternal organisation that grew up in parallel with Freemasonry in the 18th century. They were depicted by Hogarth as 'the Merry Gregs'. However, they were the victims of the Unlawful Oaths Act of 1797, introduced by a Government in fear of revolutionary groups that might overthrow the monarchy. This act, and the unlawful Societies Act of 1799, outlawed societies that administered oaths. It also outlawed any organisations that held closed meetings and were organised into branches with national committees. The well-connected Freemasons managed to get exemption but the Gregorians who subscribed £80 17s towards 'the support of Government' in 1798, had no such luck and by the early 19th century they were no longer meeting.'

Prelate's badge of the Fraternal Society of Gregorians (silver gilt, 1780), at Spink, London (est. £300-500) #c18 #c18th #18thc

And Kraftwerk's Trans Europe Express!

MARKS: None, typical of Chinese Export porcelain. Each is 9 3/4 in. (24.8 cm) in diameter.

Once used as the coat of arms of a branch of the Comtes de Chaumont family in Picardy, a slight variation is now used as the official seal of the mayor of the town of Chaumont-en-Vexin. An oval platter with the identical coat of arms (two gilt suns above and below a mountainous hill) was sold at auction by Bruneau & Co., Cranston, Rhode Island on 3 March 2018, lot 349.

Underglaze blue decoration fired first, gilt decoration added and fired later at a lower temperature.

Two Chinese Export porcelain octagonal dishes made for the French market, circa 1775, with underglaze blue and gilt floral decoration along the rims surrounding the arms of Chaumont-en-Vexin. I rather like the simple armorial with the sun above and below a mountain in blue. (see ALT)

Porcelain snuffbox in the shape of a rather grumpy-looking brown and black pug wearing a blue and gold collar and resting on a cushion embroidered with multicoloured flowers. Pink tongue stuck out. Perhaps associated with the Mopsorden (Order of the Pug) that arose after the suppression of Freemasonry by Pope Clement XII. Catalogue: 'Modeled as a pug dog wearing a blue collar, its tongue protruding, recumbent on a pillow gilt with scrollwork and painted with Holzschnittblumen, the exterior of the cover moulded with a landscape, the interior of the cover [not shown] painted with equestrian figures before a town, the interior of the box gilt 25⁄8 in. (6.7 cm.) long'

Snuffbox (Meissen, c 1745-50), at Christie's (est. US$7,000-10,000) #c18 #c18th #18thc

If it’s 16 April, it must be... YES, OF COURSE! The 248th anniversary of Parson Woodforde’s ‘Piggs’ being hungover

Hey, #ceramics enthusiasts of Bluesky! Does anyone know if the archives of Thomas Goode, the London china and glass retailer from 1827 to 2024, ended up in a public collection? The V&A perhaps? I'd like to see if I can track down some purchases in the 1920s

And stop with the apps that just clog up my phone. Not everything needs to be an app. Or have a QR code.

White porcelain vase with rounded lower portion, tapering neck and flared top with its edge rimmed in gold. Painted by Christoph Gottlob Häntachel with a great spotted woodpecker perched on a stump and another bird on the other isde (not shown), with scattered butterflies and other insects

Meissen vase (c1745), at Bonhams, Paris (est. €10,000-15,000) #c18 #c18th #18thc

Nice one!

Three 1783 documents mentioning the "cleynen beygaerde", "petits Begards", and "Pettit Beygards" respectively.

Might any #C18 scholars familiar with Belgium be able to identify the beguinage mentioned in these 1783 documents? The beguinage was either in or close to Brussels. The only other clue I have is that the confessor is identified variously as "Herdies", "Herdy", and "Herdie". Thank you kindly!

Candlelight from two (of four) silver candlesticks (1750) reflecting on a silver sauceboat (also 1750; one of a pair) and two glass #Jacobite finger bowls engraved with roses and other flowers (c1750; each one of a pair) and a plain mirrored glass surtout de table

Candlelight #c18 #c18th #18thc

Tall rectangular porcelain plaque in pale grey with a representation of a white scoreboard, edged in gold, with two columns of numbers flanking little holes for pegs in a looped decorative border, a billiard cue in the central panel. On top of the scoreboard there are pale yellow and mauve billiard balls and festoons of multicoloured flowers in a similar colour palette; more billiard balls at the base

Scoreboard for billiards (Sèvres, 1786), Versailles #c18 #c18th #18thc

MP for the win, I think. I was a bit disappointed by P&P this time.

Cover of the 1983 Penguin edition with Sir Thomas Lawrence's portrait of the Fluyder children (1806): two girls in white dressed flanking a boy in a red velvet suit with a sash. The girl on the left has her arms around the shoulders of her taller brother; the other is seated, a bit below, to the right. Backdrop of blue sky and a column.

Next in the Jane Austen re-reading project: Mansfield Park, one of my favourites - I know, à controversial opinion! (Long) #c18 #c18th #18thc

”I believe that everyone ought, in duty, to do any good they can.”
The man who saved children: Thomas Coram, English sea captain, philanthropist & founder of London’s Foundling Hospital, world’s first incorporated charity.
Portrait 1740 by William Hogarth (1697-1764).
Foundling Museum

Wooden chest, lacquered in black with gold chinoiserie scenes. Four rows of drawers with a pair on the top level and three long ones underneath, on a wider pedestal with three drawers and a scalloped bottom edge. Mounted on four cabriole legs. The drawers have brass locks (keys lost) and pulls.

Japanned chest (English, early #c18 #c18th #18thc), at Freeman's, Chicago (est. US$2,0000-4,000)

Bluesky friends! Any recommendations (beyond obvious sights) for Helsinki, Tallinn and Riga, where May will find me? Restaurant and bar suggestions are especially welcome (I do have dinner booked at Savoy in Helsinki) Travel snaps will follow :) 🇫🇮 🇪🇪 🇱🇻

Frontispiece to Charlotte Smith’s Elegiac Sonnets. Black and white engraving of a woman in a white gown stands in a moonlit forest, looking upwards at the moon, with an owl perched above her on a book.

Women poets of the long eighteenth-century took so much inspiration from the moon. Here is our attempt at a brief poetic lunar miscellany: (1/8)

Two views (one enlarged) of each side. Obv. James in profile, looking right, laureate, shoulders draped in a mantle. Inscription: IACOBVS VIII DEI GRATIA. Rev. Royal arms quartering (1st and 4th) Scotland, (2nd) France quartering England, (3rd) Ireland. Inscription: 1716 SCOT ANGL FRAN ET HIB REX. Young made a number of Jacobite restrikes, not with an intent to pass them off as originals, but as restitutions in a period of revived interest in the Stuart dynasty after George IV's visit to Edinburgh in 1822.

Pattern crown of 'James VIII' for a post-restoration Scottish coinage, designed by Norbert Roettiers (1716) & struck in pewter from the original dies by Matthew Young (1828), St James's Auctions (est. £1,200-2,000) #Jacobite #c18 #c18th #18thc

CASE: the drum case with pierced foliate canopy and pine-cone finial, on an openwork naturalistic frame, the rectangular plinth with gallery and stylised flowerheads, raised on bun feet, on a later rosewood stand with Chinese characters in ink to the underside DIAL: the 31⁄4 inch white enamel dial with Roman hours and Arabic five minute track, inner moon phase calendar with quarter-phase moon indications, gilt-brass hour, minute and seconds hands, moon indication hand lacking, with paste gems to the bezel MOVEMENT: the circular plates joined by five tapering pillars, with verge escapement, chain fusee for the time and standing barrel for the strike, spring balance, regulation and bell to backplate, later decorative plate over bell 151⁄2 in. (39.4 cm.) high; 91⁄4 in. (23.5 cm.) wide; 5 in. (12.7 cm.) deep With stand: 171⁄2 in. (44.5 cm.) high; 115⁄8 in. (29.5 cm.) wide; 71⁄4 in. (18.5 cm.) deep

Clock (English, c1790) on later stand, made for the Chinese market. Christie’s (est. £30,000-50,000) #c18 #c18th #18thc

Painting of an adorable tiny black dog, in a landscape, its front paws raised off the ground

I have nothing useful to add on the general state of things right now, but I can offer a thread of canine portraits by 18th-century French painter Jean-Jacques Bachelier, who was also director of the famed Sèvres porcelain factory. First up: Mimi, the favorite dog of Madame de Pompadour, 1762

The aged King Priam kneeling before a muscular Achilles, who looks away petulantly. Pencil, black chalk, brown ink, brown & grey wash on paper; inscribed 'Villa Borghese'

Johann Heinrich Füssli/Henry Fuseli, Priam Begging Achilles for the Body of Hector (c1770-71), at Christie's, Paris (est. €200,000-300,000) #c18 #c18th #18thc

A rococo painting of a dance scene in a garden by Watteau

Jean-Antoine Watteau, Fêtes Vénitiennes (1719); many have noted the melancholy that lurks beneath the surface of his paintings, like Walter Pater in the 19th century: “He was always a seeker after something in the world that is there in no satisfying measure, or not at all.”

1 3/4” (4.5 cm) in height, 2 5/8” (6.7 cm) diameter with handle.

The gliding was added after the blue line in a later firing, you can see that along the rim here.

Underneath the cup are interlaced Ls in underglaze blue with the date mark ff for 1783 and the painter’s mark of a scrolling m:x for Marie-Claude Sophie Xhrouet, flower painter, active 1775-1788.

A circa 1783 Sèvres small porcelain coffee cup (gobelet litron, 4th size) decorated with interlaced gilt laurel leaves surrounding two blue lines and with vertically-placed flower bud decoration along the sides. "Espresso"-sized. And it looks like spring is finally here. (see ALT)