* Ceylon - Silvaf (Hippolyte, 1801-79). A collection of 10 watercolour views of Ceylon, mid 19th-century, comprising 'Opening of the Kattoogastotte Bridge, 1st March 1860', watercolour on Bristol board, captioned, signed & dated, some spotting, sheet size 22 x 27.8 cm, mounted on thin album leaf, 'Kattoogastotte Bridge with Hunasgeria Peak in the off Ground, 24th October 1860', watercolour on artist board, captioned, signed & dated, some spotting, sheet size 22.2 x 27.7 cm, 'Vue de la Maison du Gouvernement a Kigalle occupied par Monsieur E[dmund]. R[awdon]. Power agent et Juge ..., Janvier 29 1840', watercolour mounted on card, captioned, signed & dated in pencil, cropped around caption to lower blank margin, 25 x 29 cm, 'View of the Fort and part of the Pettah of Colombo. Taken from the verandah of the Custom House', January 1857, watercolour on paper (bearing watermark J. Whatman 1852), captioned, signed & dated, sheet size 28 x 40 cm, 'View of the Fort and part of the Pettah of Colombo. Taken from the verandah of the Custom House', 1857, pencil sketch on paper (watermark J. Whatman 1852), single-line border, signed and captioned in pen & ink, sheet size 28.7 x 40.5 cm, mounted on thin album leaf, plus 5 other watercolour views in the same hand? (unsigned), mounted on thin album leaves, including a view of Ruwanwella Fort Ceylon 1844, with closed tear (20.2 x 28.5 cm)QTY: (10)NOTE:Hippolyte Silvaf (1801-79) was described in the October 2nd 1852 issue of the Illustrated London News as a 'French European from Pondicherry' and '... Hippolyte Silvaf, a young French artist, residing at Colombo'. He had the same name as his father Hippolyte Silva and therefore the artist signed ‘Hippolyte Silva.f ’. The addition of the letter 'f' being an abbreviation of the French word 'fils’ or ‘son’. The addition was often misunderstood and the letter ‘f ’ was assumed to be part of his name. Silvaf arrived in Ceylon during the early 1820s, starting as a portrait painter in various media, but he had difficulty in attracting sufficient commissions. As a result, he opened the earliest art school in Colombo in 1834 at his house on 1st Cross Street, Pettah. In 1839 he completed a set of drawings of Ceylon costumes, dedicated to the recently retired Governor, Sir Robert Wilmot Horton, in the hope of assistance in the cost of publication, which was unsuccessful. With insufficient income and the ultimate failure of his art school, Silvaf and his family moved to Kandy in around 1854, where he started another school, for art and music. He produced drawings, paintings and wood engravings of views of Kandy. He also sketched the first locomotive journey to Kandy. Silvaf was a prolific painter of natural history subjects, of which very few have survived. Silvaf died in Negombo in 1879. (Refer to Sunday Times - Sri Lanka, 10 Jan 2016).Edmund Rawdon Power (1837-1860) edited one of the earliest literary periodicals in Ceylon. He originally arrived in Ceylon as Private Secretary to Sir Robert Wilmot Horton and was the first to introduce shorthand to Ceylon. He was also instrumental in starting a quarterly magazine 'The Ceylon Miscellany' which included a series of 'Letters on Colonial Policy' written by the Governor under the nom de plume of 'Philalethes'. Power succeeded Charles Reginald Buller as Government Agent of Kandy, where he proved very popular. He married into a literary family, his wife being the daughter of William Jerdan, Editor of the London Literary Gazette. Power is also known for taking a wager that he would walk from Kandy to Nuwara Eliya, a distance of approximately 50 miles, in 16 consecutive hours. The odds were against him, but he was successful, with an hour and twenty minutes remaining.
![A South Africa Medal 1877-79 to Private Thomas Bagnall, 80th Regiment of Foot, clasp: 1878-9 (779. PTE T. BAGNALL. 80TE [sic]](https://cdn.globalauctionplatform.com/b5263d3a-00bd-4ef7-8619-aff200c5ed3b/13166afe-1079-4f63-9444-aff600a23733/468x382.jpg)
