![SLAVERY[OPIE (AMELIA) The Black Man's Lament, or How to Make Sugar], FIRST EDITION, 25pp., 18 hand-coloured wood-engraved il](https://cdn.globalauctionplatform.com/3e13083a-3714-41b9-947a-aced01150e07/d0ec2bf3-afbf-4d96-84fe-aced011a192f/468x382.jpg)
SLAVERY[OPIE (AMELIA) The Black Man's Lament, or How to Make Sugar], FIRST EDITION, 25pp., 18 hand-coloured wood-engraved illustrations, lacks title and wrappers, first page torn in 2 places, one touching image, stitched [Darton G726], 8vo, [Harvey and Darton, 1826]Footnotes:Rare anti-slavery poem addressed to children ('... try to end the griefs you hear'), the opening woodcut depicting a child signing the a petition to end the slave trade. The poem follows the story of an African man's capture by slave traders, his journey to the West Indies on a slave ship, and forced labours on the sugar plantations. Amelia Opie rhymes 'that good Englishmen could know/How negroes suffer for their pleasure!'.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: •• Zero rated for VAT, no VAT will be added to the Hammer Price or the Buyer's Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
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RUSSIAN IMPERIAL ARSENAL, TSARKOYE SELOKAEMMERER (GEORGES DE) Arsenal de Tsarskoé-Sélo, ou Collection d'armes de sa Majesté l'Empereur de toutes les Russies [repeated in Russian], FIRST EDITION, text in French and Russian, chromolithographed dedication leaf printed in red and gold, 40 plates (13 chromolithographed, 27 lithographed) after A. Rocksthuhl and Nicolas Bogdanoff, variable toning, and occasional foxing, small repair to blank fore-margin of plate 28, and one text leaf, full red morocco gilt, sides elaborately tooled roll-borders enclosing central arms with crown above seven castles within a cartouche, g.e., folio (520 x 355mm.), St. Petersburg, A.A. Lline, 1869Footnotes:RARE, with no copies listed in auction records as having sold at auction since 1948. The great Russian Imperial collection of Russian, European and Oriental arms and armour was built up by Emperor Nicholas I in the early half of the nineteenth century, and expanded by his son Alexander II. In 1861 came the purchase of Prince Soltykoff's exceptional collection of Oriental arms. The collection was housed at the royal residence in Tsarskoye Selo until its removal to the Hermitage in 1885.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: •• Zero rated for VAT, no VAT will be added to the Hammer Price or the Buyer's Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
![[NODIER (CHARLES)]Apothéoses et imprécations [-de Pythagore], 2 parts in 1 vol., NUMBER V OF 17 COPIES PRINTED, this for M.](https://cdn.globalauctionplatform.com/3e13083a-3714-41b9-947a-aced01150e07/b86081ce-a800-4e47-831d-aced011a8d77/468x382.jpg)
[NODIER (CHARLES)]Apothéoses et imprécations [-de Pythagore], 2 parts in 1 vol., NUMBER V OF 17 COPIES PRINTED, this for M. Dornier de Mallpas of Besançon, original bradel binding of burgundy morocco-backed red-brown boards by Jean-Claude Noël of Besançon, double gilt fillet rules at inner edge, gilt spine titled 'Pythag.', blue endpapers, extremities slightly rubbed [Vicaire, Manuel de l'amateur de livres du XIXe siècle, VI, 147], 4to, Crotone [i.e. Besançon, December 1808]Footnotes:'La célébrité de Pythagore, l'intérêt de la matière, l'extrême rareté de l'ouvrage, la magnificence de son exécution, tout concourt à le recommander aux amateurs' (original prospectus for the work).First edition of Nodier's extremely rare collection of classical fragments, only seventeen copies of which were printed at the author's expense in Besançon on 'vélin Canson filigraine', with a binding by Jean-Claude Noël. In 1992 J.-R. Dahan identified eight of these copies, six in French public libraries and one in the library of the château de Montmirey-la-Ville. A ninth was sold as part of the Simonson-Kies collection, Sotheby's Paris, 19 June 2013, lot 222.At the time of writing this work, occult writer and polymath Nodier was librarian at the extraordinary Arsenal in Besançon. He admitted openly to being a freemason, and later to have been a member of a secret order which he described as 'biblical and Pythagorean'. It was also the period when he wrote an anti-Napoleonic satire Le Napoléone, seeking to draw attention to himself and even writing to the Emperor to get himself arrested. He did eventually spend a month in prison, but was freed and continued to be involved in anti-Napoleonic plots. Contents: 6 unnumbered leaves (blank; justification leaf; half-title 'Apothéoses et Imprécations'; title to first part 'Apothéoses de Pythagore/ A Crotone'; 2 leaves of 'Prolégomènes de l'Editeur'), pages I-LXIII (including second title 'Imprécations de Pythagore/ A Crotone' on page [LI]).This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: •• Zero rated for VAT, no VAT will be added to the Hammer Price or the Buyer's Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
![[DAVIES (JOHN)]Antiquæ linguæ Britannicae, nunc vulgo dictae Cambro-Britannicae, a suis Cymraecae vel Cambricae, ab aliis Wal](https://cdn.globalauctionplatform.com/3e13083a-3714-41b9-947a-aced01150e07/e209edfd-901c-4c8c-9642-aced011ab02f/468x382.jpg)
[DAVIES (JOHN)]Antiquæ linguæ Britannicae, nunc vulgo dictae Cambro-Britannicae, a suis Cymraecae vel Cambricae, ab aliis Wallicæ, second edition, VARIANT WITH THE RARE LEAF OF COMMENDATORY VERSES following 2*4, text in triple columns, woodcut device on title, royal coat of arms on verso, woodcut head- and tail-pieces, light browning and occasional dampstaining, contemporary calf, rebacked and recornered, two 3-line FRAGMENTS OF A MEDIEVAL MANUSCRIPT IN LATIN on vellum used as binder's waste at front and rear [cf. ESTC S122150; Rees 1551], folio, R. Young, 1632Footnotes:The second (first folio) edition of Davies' dictionary, with fine Welsh provenance and complete with the rarely found additional leaf headed 'Encomiastica'.Provenance: Edward Parry, Bridge Street, Chester (1798-1854, bookseller publisher and antiquary), ticket on front paste-down; Lewis Gilbertson (1814-1896, cleric, vice-principal of Jesus College, Oxford), signature on front free endpaper; his presentation label to S. Michael and All Angels' Theological College, Aberdare; St. Michael's Clergy School, Aberdare, ink stamp on title and final page.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: •• Zero rated for VAT, no VAT will be added to the Hammer Price or the Buyer's Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
GIBBON (EDMUND)The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 6 vol., FIRST EDITION of volumes 1, 4, 5 & 6, 'new edition' of volumes 2 & 3, Preface in volume 1 dated 1 February 1776, 3 engraved maps (2 folding), the 4 first edition volumes with half-titles and errata (those for volumes 4-6 on verso of final leaf of General Index in volume 6), volumes 2 and 3 without half-titles and errata, Dd3 in volume 1 with small stain causing loss of one word on facing page, L1 loose and with corner creased/torn with some loss, volume 4 with title-page torn across (no loss), untrimmed in original blue-grey paper boards, volumes 4-6 with their paper backstrips (not intact, volumes 1-3 lacking backstrips), slight staining and a few tears/cracks, corners knocked, volume 1 with upper cover near detached and some gatherings working loose, preserved in green morocco-backed solander boxes, gilt lettered spines with raised bands [ESTC T78356 (volume 1), N36543 (volumes 2-3), T78365 (volumes 4-6); Grolier English 58; Printing and the Mind of Man 222; Rothschild 942], 4to (300 x 230mm.), W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1776-1787-1788Footnotes:VERY RARE SET OF GIBBON'S MASTERPIECE UNTRIMMED IN THE ORIGINAL BOARDS. The survival of three of the original backstrips is even more unusual as most such sets have been rebacked at some point in time.As often the case, this set is a mixed edition, although it is very unusual in so far as volume one is a first edition, whereas it is common to find second editions of the first volume in combination with first editions of the others. Volumes 2 and 3 in the present set were reissued without the other volumes in 1787, and have their own separate entry on ESTC. The portrait frontispiece found in many sets is therefore not called for here as it was issued with the first edition of volume two, along with the 12 pages of contents. Provenance: Countess of Hopetoun, late eighteenth century bookplates.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: •• Zero rated for VAT, no VAT will be added to the Hammer Price or the Buyer's Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
SAMPSON (WILLIAM)Vow Breaker. Or The Faire Maide of Clifton. In Notinghamshire as it hath beene diuers times acted by severall companies with great applause, FIRST EDITION, woodcut printer's device on title, full-page woodcut on leaf A2, typographical ornaments, cropped with loss of upper rule border of woodcut, most of running title on 5 pages and touching running title on several other leaves, small hole in C4 touching a couple of letters, modern quarter calf, red morocco gilt lettering label on upper cover [ESTC S116468; Greg, II, 510], small 4to (178 x 125mm.), Printed by John Norton, and are to be sold by Roger Ball, 1636Footnotes:Rare, only one copy at auction recorded on Rare Book Hub since 1965. Written partly in blank verse and partly in prose, Sampson claimed that Vow Breaker was 'a true story, and its two plots are based on stories then current in Nottinghamshire... The Nottinghamshire orientation of the play, along with the vague title-page statement that it had been 'divers times Acted by severall Companies', suggests that it had only been acted provincially in Nottinghamshire' (ODNB). The main plot, based on a popular ballad, tells the story of Ann Boote, the fair maid of the title, who is haunted to her death by her spurned lover after he had committed suicide. In the final scene Queen Elizabeth visits Nottingham, conversing with the Mayor, and granting the town privileges. It has been noted that Sampson was influenced by his reading of Shakespeare, in particular Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: •• Zero rated for VAT, no VAT will be added to the Hammer Price or the Buyer's Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
JESUIT MISSIONSLettres édifiantes et curieuses écrites des missions étrangères, par quelques missionnaires de la Compagnie de Jésus, 34 vol. bound in 32, engraved title vignettes, 36 mostly folding engraved plates and maps (of 38, without portrait of Antoine Verjus, and map of Paraguay, 2 hand-coloured, a few old repairs at folds, some loss to map of 'Nouvelles Phillipies' in volume 6, and plate of Chinese inscriptions in volume 10), occasional light foxing or browning, volume 1 with title shaved at lower margin touching imprint, and final leaf repaired with some loss of text, volume 5 with small loss to blank corners on 2 leaves, volume 15 title with small hole touching imprint, volumes 1-28 uniform contemporary calf, spines gilt in compartments with two lettering-pieces, red edges, volumes 29-34 (slightly taller) in similar mottled calf, some rubbing and abrasions, minor worm trails to a few sides and joints, a few spine ends chipped, but generally attractive [Sabin 40697, 'a set comprising the first edition of each volume is of uncommon rarity'; Sommervogel III, 1514, IV, 34-35, V, 536, VI, 353-354; cf. Hill 1024, second edition only], 8vo, Paris, Jean Cusson [and others], 1702-1776Footnotes:RARE COMPLETE SET OF 'THE MOST VALUABLE 18TH-CENTURY SOURCE ON JESUIT ACTIVITIES IN FRONTIER REGIONS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD' (Hill, Collection of Pacific Voyages).This monumental series, began under the editorship of Charles le Gobien, was intended to provide a history of Jesuit missions and news from China. Subsequently accounts of many Company of Jesuits missionary missives from all the regions of their activities were added, with information on science, medicine, natural history, technology and geography as well as theological matters. Following le Gobain the editorship passed to Jean-Baptiste du Halde, a great proponent of Jesuit science as a means to winning imperial favour in China, and thereafter under several other editors until the final volume was published in 1776.Provenance: 'Domus probationis Parisiensis Societatis Jesu ad usum novit', contemporary inscription on the title of volume 1, and and similar inscriptions to titles of volumes 2-28, placing these volumes formerly in the library of the Parisian Jesuit novitiate.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: •• Zero rated for VAT, no VAT will be added to the Hammer Price or the Buyer's Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
JUDAICAThe Form of Daily Prayers, According to the Custom of the German and Polish Jews; As Read in the Synagogues, and Used in the Their Families. Carefully Translated from the Original Hebrew, engraved portrait frontispiece of Rabbi Solomon Herschell by Holl after Slater (with imprint of Messrs. Joseph, Barnett and Justins, 18 July 1808), titles and text in English and Hebrew, contemporary tree calf gilt, rebacked in calf gilt with red morocco spine label, 8vo, Printed by E. Justins, and Sold at the Hebrew Printing Office, 34 Brick Lane, Spitalfields, [c.1808]Footnotes:Rare edition a prayerbook for the use of German and Polish Jews in England, with text in Hebrew and English. This copy has an engraved portrait of Solomon Hirschell, chief Rabbi of the Great Synagogue from 1802 until his death in 1842. Printed at the Hebrew Printing Office in East London's Brick Lane, the book was also sold by 'Hyam Barnet, Hebrew Bookseller', 'I. Joseph, Sam's Coffee House', and 'B. Abrahams', all located at Duke's Place, nearby the Great Synagogue.Provenance: James Whatman, armorial bookplate.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: •• Zero rated for VAT, no VAT will be added to the Hammer Price or the Buyer's Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
CRICKETASHLEY-COOPER (F.S.) W.G. Grace Cricketer. A Record of His Performances in First-Class Matches, FIRST EDITITON, photographic frontispiece portrait of Grace, illustrated advertisements, publisher's brown cloth gilt [Padwick 7571], small 4to (210 x 160mm.), John Wisden & Co., [1916]Footnotes:A FINE COPY IN THE VERY RARE PUBLISHER'S CLOTH, designed in the colour and style of Wisden's Almanacks of this period.Provenance: R.L. Arrowsmith, inscription inside upper cover.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: •• Zero rated for VAT, no VAT will be added to the Hammer Price or the Buyer's Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
CRICKETDENISON (WILLIAM) Cricket. Sketches of the Players, FIRST EDITION, 8pp. of advertisements at end, modern cloth, with the original printed drab wrappers bound in [Padwick 876 & 7201], 12mo, Simpkin, Marshall, 1846Footnotes:FIRST EDITION, retaining the exceptionally rare original wrappers, of a work containing thirty-seven biographies by the first acknowledged cricket reporter. Denison writes at length about Alfred Mynn and William Lillywhite.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: •• Zero rated for VAT, no VAT will be added to the Hammer Price or the Buyer's Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
A Horse Racing Jockey's Licence No. 427 granted to James Wall 1905, with ink signature stamp S.M. Weatherby. John Wall was born at Worcester on August 27, 1855: he won the 1885 Wokingham on Corunna and the Liverpool Autumn Cup on Kilcreene in 1885 and on Madame D'Albany in 1891 and died at Wednesfield on February 7, 1905. He was 49 Missing a segment from the top right but a rare piece of ephemera.
A very rare boxed Meccano live Steam Engine, comprising of spirit fired vertical boiler with filler safety valve, on/off hand operated lever for steam output, powering a single oscillating cylinder, with opposing unspoked flywheel, raised on Meccano style blue base with original burner and other accessories.
Theodore Casimir Roussel (French, 1847-1926), The Saw Mill, Putney, London, etching and drypoint on ivory laid paper, signed in pencil on the tab indicating that this impression was printed by the artist, also signed in the plate, 1888-89, 4 5/8 x 3 1/8in. (11.6 x 7.8cm.), unframed. * Provenance: Michael Parkin Fine Art Ltd, Chelsea, London. ** References: (20 1/1) The Prints of Theodore Roussel: A Catalogue Raisonné by Margaret Dunwoody Hausberg 1991. There is another example of this rare etching in the Art Institute of Chicago.
A rare Island of Guernsey early passport 1833, Issued by Major General John Ross Lieutenant-Governor of Guernsey and Alderney - Made out to a Miss Rachel Roberts aged 22 years. Royal Arms and Governor of Guernsey Arms at top, black printing with manuscript annotations and signatures, has franking stamps on reverse stating she was at Granville and Paris, 6 x 13¾in. (15.3 x 35cm.). * Major General John Ross served on the Spanish peninsula with Sir John Moore, the Walcheren Campaign and later in Portugal under the Duke of Wellington. He was Governor of Guernsey from 1828 to 1837.
Guernsey Law interest - A rare 19th century 'ORDONNANCE DE LA COUR ROYALE' poster dated 1832, Le 6 Septembre 1832, devant Daniel De Lisle Brock, éc. Baillif, présens, Jean La Serre, Jean Hubert, William Collings, H. O. Carré, Frédéric Mansell, P.B. Dobrée et T. W. Gosselin, Ecrs. Jurés. etc etc etc ~~~~etc etc etc, CHARLES LEFEBVRE Député Greffier du Roi.17½ x 13½in. (44.5 x 34.3cm.), together with two prints and a collection of Guernsey related cigarette cards etc.
A very rare 18th century English or Dutch hand forged brass salamander, the turned handle with acorn finial and the disc browning surface with palmette decoration to the junction, 16 5/8in. (42.5cm.) long. * Salamander - used as a hearth cooking spatula when needed, the salamander was primarily a browning iron holding a dish above the flame for the final touch or heated to red hot in the fire, then held above a roast or a custard to brown the surface.
The Beatles memorabilia - A rare boxed set of four glasses by Joseph Lang & Company Ltd for NEMS Enterprises, c.1963, each glass features a colour transfer of one of the Beatles - Paul McCartney; Ringo Star; John Lennon and George Harrison, each glass with gold gilt rims and standing 4in. (10.2cm.) high.
Channel Islands football interest - a rare Guernsey Football Association patch - Belgrave Wanderers Football Club Jackson Team 1932-33 photograph and medals, to include a silver Jackson League medal awarded to R. Morton 1932-33 (front row left on photograph); together with three other medals; and a silver Old English pattern spoon, engraved to terminal 'T.I. 1950 S/H R. Morton Winner', 7in. (18cm.) long, gross weight of spoon and silver medals 2.4 tr.oz. (7)
A early 20th century rare and unusual novelty German all-bisque piano baby doll as a decanter, attributed to Gebruder Heubach, seated, having sculpted blonde hair, painted facial features, upper glancing eyes, closed mouth with rosy cheeked dimpled expression, wearing smock with baby blue trim and sculpted ruffles, the removable head lifting to reveal decanter neck with cork stopper, 8¼in. (21cm.) high.
A rare copy of Album of Eight Songs: Music by Prince Victor Duleep Singh, consisting of his own compositions Chappell & Co. Ltd., London, n.d. [but probably before 1898]consisting of settings of poems and lyrics by Swinburne, de Musset, Leconte de Lisle and Sully Prudhomme, to music by the Prince, 40 pages, 360 x 265 mm.; together with a copy of An Account of Blo' Norton Hall, communicated by Prince Frederick Duleep Singh, MVO, FSA, VP, Norfolk & Norwich Archaeological Society, 1914, signed by the Prince and dedicated by him to Herbert Hudson, March 1914, 50 pages, various plates and diagrams, half-marbled covers 220 x 140 mm.(2)Footnotes:Prince Victor (1866-1918) was the eldest son of Maharajah Duleep Singh, and after an abortive career in the British Army, married Lady Anne Coventry in 1898. This collection of songs, written doubtless for his own amusement (but, notably, dedicated to various ladies), shows him as a typical late Victorian gentleman, with some of the sentimentality of the time, but also steeped in English and French literature.The titles of the songs are: 'Ici Bas' (Here Below); 'For a Day and a Night'; 'Adieu Suzon' (Good-bye Suzon); 'Tre Filia d'Oro'; 'A Song of Maytime'; 'In the Lower Lands of Day'; 'When the Swallows Homeland Fly'; 'If Love Were What the Rose Is'.In 1909, after some years spent house-hunting, Prince Frederick (1868-1926), a younger son of Duleep Singh, bought the 16th Century moated house, Blo' Norton Hall, near Thetford in Norfolk. He was a keen antiquarian, having read History at Cambridge, and he was particularly interested in the Stuarts and Charles I. He was a member of numerous historical societies, but was most associated with the Norfolk & Norwich Archaeological Society, joining in 1897 and becoming its President in 1924.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: •• Zero rated for VAT, no VAT will be added to the Hammer Price or the Buyer's Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
A rare Safavid oil painting of an African soldier Persia, Isfahan, circa 1680-90oil on canvas, affixed with a fragmentary old label on the stretcher reading Portrait of an Indian Officer 122 x 79.5 cm. Footnotes:ProvenancePrivate English aristocratic collection, London. Acquired by the vendor's mother in Jaipur during a visit to the court of Maharajah Man Singh II in the mid 1960s.Bonhams have the privilege of presenting an enigmatic and unique painting depicting a flamboyant African soldier in Safavid Persia. Immensely rare, the present work is quite likely to be one of the first ever depictions of an African subject in Persian oil painting, and one of the earliest artistic records of the black African community whose descendants continue to reside in the Gulf region.Isfahan was referred to as 'half the world' (nisf-i jahan) by the 16th Century. Shah 'Abbas (reg. 1588-1629) had moved his capital from Qazwin, Safavid political power had grown, there was a flowering of culture in Persia, and Isfahan, in particular, became a nexus of trade and cultural exchange. Along with the Ottoman Sultan and the 'Grand Mughal', Safavid Persia and Shah 'Abbas ('The Sophy' or 'The Great Sophy', an expression probably deriving from a mishearing of 'Safavi'), were touchstones of grandeur and exoticism in Western consciousness at the time.One thinks of the striking image, spread across a double page in a folio volume, of the Maidan-i Naqsh-i Jahan in Isfahan, in Voyages de Corneille le Brun par la Moscovie, en Perse, et aux Orientales (Amsterdam 1718) – where the broken lines of the tents of the bazaar, where all sorts of business was being transacted amongst several nationalities, contrast with the more austere lines of the Safavid architecture surrounding them. As Cornelius de Bruyn's accompanying account put it: 'The greater part of this plaza is full of tents, where all kinds of things are sold [...] One continually sees a prodigious crowd of people and among other things a large number of people of quality who come and go to the court' (see S. R. Canby, Shah 'Abbas: the Remaking of Iran (London 2009), pp. 260-261, no. 127, illustrated). And one also thinks of the group of twenty-one paintings discussed by Eleanor Sims in her essay below – the depictions of people of various ethnicities, genders, in different forms of dress, alongside types of decorative objects - and so to our painting of a young African man.While the painting is – as Eleanor Sims argues below – a type, and one playing on variations in Safavid fashion, it must surely refer ultimately to a real-life soldier, a musketeer or tofangchi, a division of the Persian army primarily composed of foreign mercenaries. A figure (albeit one with white skin) which appears in the Kaempfner Album (produced in Isfahan in 1684-85) in the British Museum is highly reminiscent of our subject, in pose, weaponry and dress: the hat with its plume, the two straps which pass over his shoulders (to a backpack?), the accoutrements around his waist, the red-orange breeches, and the white banded gaiters. The British Museum catalogue describes him as a royal bodyguard. Leaving aside western Europeans, most foreigners in Safavid Persia, whether free or slaves, were closer to home – they were from the Caucasus, Georgia, Circassia, or notably, Armenian, in the flourishing town of New Julfa. But an African must have been in a minority, by geographical accident (and less common than in Ottoman Turkey, where black Africans, often eunuchs, were more commonly in positions of power at court). Our figure demonstrates his confidence in his rank and profession, his dress and (to some degree, at least) his wealth, create a well-to-do image, almost dandyish.Eleanor Sims traces his relation in this respect to the 'Tehran Suite' of paintings. In addition, both figures in an Afsharid oil painting, done around fifty years later, wear long coats with the same horizontal frogging on the chest (albeit with much more embroidered decoration on the coats), and the male figure wears the same vertically-striped undershirt - and these figures are of a notably higher class (the catalogue description speculated whether the male might be a son of Nadir Shah). See Sotheby's, Fine Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures, 22nd & 23rd May 1986, lot 175 (dated to circa 1735-45).Whether he was a slave, who had come to Persia via the Arab trade from East Africa and the Indian Ocean into the Gulf (whose descendants to this day form an Afro-Iranian community in the south of the country); whether he had been freed as a condition of service in the Persian army; whether he was a free man who had ended up in the melting-pot of 17th Century Isfahan; or whether he is strictly a 'type', perhaps made African to cater to an existing European interest in blackamoors, and other signifiers of 'the exotic' (especially if he had a female companion painting, as Sims suggests) - we will doubtless never know. What does seem to be clear is that this painting is a rare, perhaps unique portrayal of an African in the Safavid army, and of an African in Persia.An African Youthby Eleanor SimsCould a picture offer any greater degree of 'exotic' than does this oil-painted figure of a young African wearing imaginatively interpreted 17th-century Safavid Persian clothing?He is one among a presently recorded number (21) of large rectangular pictures, painted in oil on canvas. All are single figures; all are dressed in fine 17th-Century Safavid clothing; all comfortably fill their picture-space. Their dress, especially that of the women, usually also distinguishes their ethnicity and religious affiliation: Muslim Persian, Armenian and Georgian Christian. Several men among the 21 may instead be Europeans in Safavid garb, but they are the exceptions within the genre. And with a different exception, none is either signed or dated; all but three are anonymous.Such paintings were almost surely commissioned by Europeans in the cosmopolitan melange of peoples visiting Safavid Isfahan in that century (Eleanor Sims, 'Five Seventeenth-Century Persian Oil Paintings', Persian and Mughal Art, ed. Michael Goedhuis, London 1976, pp. 223-32). Struck by the 'exotic' inhabitants they saw, many wanted images to take with them, when they returned to their own countries. English travellers seem to have been especially desirous of owning these 'exotic' personages, especially when they could be executed on a scale not unlike the oil-painted portraits already hanging on their walls. Indeed, many can be connected with houses or families: in Wiltshire (see Mary Arnold-Forster, Basset Down: An Old Country House, London 1949, p. 147; Eleanor Sims, 'The 'Exotic' Image: Oil-Painting in Iran in the Later 17th and the Early 18th Centuries', in The Phenomenon of 'Foreign' in Oriental Art, ed. Annette Hagedorn, Wiesbaden 2006, pp. 135–40 passim; eadem, 'Six Seventeenth-century Oil Paintings from Safavid Persia', in God is Beautiful and Loves Beauty: The Object in Islamic Art and Culture, New Haven & London 2013, pp. 343, 346-47), and in Northamptonshire, (eadem, 'Five Seventeenth-Century Persian Oil Paintings', pp. 241-48). Three are known to have been in English royal possession since the middle of the 17th century (1651; noted on the Royal Collection Trust Website; two published in Epic Iran: 5000 Years of Culture, J. Curtis, I. Sarikhani-Sandmann, and T. Stanley, London 2020, cat. 183-84). But that this youth is black makes him an especially exotic figure, even for 17th-century Isfahan.He stands in an open landscape whose horizon is at mid-figure height. The fore- and middle-ground show rows of grassy... This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: RR This lot is subject to import restrictions when shipped to the United States.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
A panelled oak chest or coffer, probably first half 17th century, the front incorporating twin Romayne panels, 60cm high, 115cm wide, 52cm deepProvenance: Private Collection, The Manor House, Stanford in the Vale, OxfordshireFor a closely related example of chest incorporating romayne panels see, Victor Chinnery, Oak Furniture The British Tradition, Antique Collectors Club, 1979, page 426, figure 4:27. Condition Report: Marks, scratches and abrasions commensurate with age and use, Old splits and chips, some old repairs, some old losses. There is an old ring mark/ water mark to the central panel of the lid. To the 'Romayne' profile portraits there are remnants of what appear to be the original paint. An interesting and relatively rare feature. Each exterior side panel also with a central painted decorative motif that would appear possibly to be original. There is a very good and even depth of patina and colour throughout. The hinges are replacements but are hand forged and appear 18th or early 19th century. There are two later pieces of timber screwed to the underside of the lid to secure old splits/ breaks. One rear foot with spliced repair. The interior with later pinned lining. Please refer to the images for visual reference to condition. Condition Report Disclaimer
A rare pair of Queen Anne burr oak and oak side tables, circa 1705, each approximately 70cm high, 88cm wide, 60.5cm deep Provenance: Collection of a Titled Gentleman, LondonThe interior of one drawer with paper label for 'The Post Boy Antique Galleries, Filmwell, Nr. Hawkenhurst, Kent' listing the provenance as 'From Ross Castle, Cumberland. Given by the Bishop of Carlisle in 1735 to the Pocklington-Stenhouse Family, Netherall, Mary Port, Cumberland, noted in the family records'. For two related examples of table of the period see, Victor Chinnery, Oak Furniture, The British Tradition, Antique Collectors Club, 1979, page 314 (figures 3:245 and 3:246). Please note, the turning of the legs on these tables vary noticeably from one another. It is feasible that they were made by different hands in the same workshop. Condition Report: Both tables with marks, knocks, scratches and abrasions commensurate with age and use. Various old chips and splits. As expected with the age of the tables and the materials used, both tops have slight undulation. Some later nails securing tops.Filler applied to surface in places. The interior of the carcasses with later drawer runners and central stretcher beneath top. Drawer fronts appear original, the rest of the construction of the drawers are later (previous drawers were on side runners). Handles are replacements but in period taste. Feet appear original and have some fragmentary losses to feet. Slight variation between dimensions of both tables. The thickness of the turning of the legs varies between the two tables to a noticeable degree. Some later screws disguised by filler to rear friezes. Table One-Crack to one rear edge of the top with dark wax used to fill gap. Wax has also been applied to two old indentations to the rear edge. Small rectangular veneer repair to rear right corner of top. Shaped rear frieze lacks nailed on moulding to edge. Table Two- Cracks to the centre of the front edge and to one front corner. Wax applied to three old indentations to the rear edge. Small square veneer repair made to one side of the top. Old repaired crack through top of one front leg. Please refer to additional images for visual reference to condition. Condition Report Disclaimer
A pair of yew and mahogany Gothic Windsor armchairs, mid-18th century, attributed to Thames Valley, one stamped 'T.B' to the underside, each approximately 97cm high, 62cm wide, 52cm deep Provenance: Previously part of the Private Collection of a Cambridge AcademicA closely related set of three chairs were sold Christie's New York, 10th May 2018, Lot 834 (£47,500).For a near identical example of chair see, Bernard D. Cotton, The English Regional Chair, Antique Collectors Club, 1990, page 47, Figure TV20. In Cotton's book he notes that 'no examples [of Gothic Windsor chairs] have been recorded made in other than prized yew, with elm seats'. The mahogany seats of these chairs make them rare examples of their kind. A pair of chairs of closely related form is held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (2016.234 and 2016.250). Condition Report: Marks, knocks, scratches and abrasions commensurate with age and use. Old splits and chips. Both chairs structurally solid. One pierced spandrels to the side of each chair is possibly associated. Some old repaired splits to backs. Filler applied to surface in places. Please refer to additional images for visual reference to condition. Condition Report Disclaimer
A rare English shellwork armorial picture, possibly Devon, late 18th/early 19th century, the central shield surmounted with a helmet and wolf's mask and flanked by flowering branches, elements tinted, presented in a glazed and ebonised frame and on silk ground, 36 x 31cm overallCondition Report: The armorial bears the usual minor marks knocks and wear overall consistent with age.There are minor losses and chips in places, including to the flower petals and parts of the armorial cartouche and its border. Losses also include parts of the diagonal lines on the right side of the armorial, as visible in images.The purple and orange lacquer-like colourings are vibrant, though the lighter tinctures may be a little more faded. There is adhesive present particularly to clusters of shells, though this is perhaps the result of manufacturing techniques.There is a small handful of loose shells at the bottom of the frame, which must have come away from parts of the foliage.The fabric ground and frame are a little bit marked and scuffed.Please see additional lot photographs for visual reference to condition.Condition Report Disclaimer
An American 'Tabard Inn Library' ebonised oak revolving bookcase,c.1902, of architectural form with a gabled roof above various compartments, shelves, carved heraldic shields and book titles, the frieze carved 'The Tabard Inn, The Best Reading Rooms in the United States are the Homes of the American People',68.5cm wide68.5cm deep193cm highThe Tabard Inn project – named after the Southwark pub made famous by Geoffrey Chaucer in the first few lines of the Canterbury Tales - was the brainchild of entrepreneur and promoter Seymour Eaton. His idea was for a membership library located in drugstores across the United States. The books, available to members at five cents each, were housed in these 1.93m high ebonised oak bookcases with the carved inscription 'The Best Reading Rooms In the United States Are the Homes of the American People'. The slogan 'With all the Red Tape on the Box' references the sturdy black cases sealed with red tape that housed the books.In an advert from 1902, Eaton claimed that 10,000 bookcases would be made with their contents (each held 120 books) changed weekly from a central supplier. He even managed to sell his idea to the UK whereby in 1904 the newsagent WH Smith had taken on the UK franchise using similar bookcases that carry the legend inscribed with the Thomas Carlyle quotation 'The True University of These Days is a Collection of Books'.However, relatively few bookcases of either the US or the UK type are known. In March 1905, Eaton was declared bankrupt and his enterprise came to an abrupt end. Sworders expect this rare survivor to bring £2000-3000.Condition report: Minor rubbing and wear. Will easily sit in a new home with no restoration necessary.
A VERY RARE COLT'S PATENT ADVERTISING POSTER, the coloured paper lithograph depicting a percussion Pocket revolver, the script SOLD HERE, COLT'S PATENT, This Pistol of WORLD WIDE CELEBRITY is perfectly made and warranted. Lower left features the printer's details Lith. of Nagel & Weingartner, 74 Fulton St. New York. Framed and glazed 51cm x 32.5cm. The rear frame mounting marked COLT ADVERT, c: 1854? (from Commander Ward, Bapty & Co., 1944)
A FINE AND RARE CASED PAIR OF PRESENTATION QUALITY SILVER PLATED MOUNTED 80-BORE COOPER'S PATENT HAMMERLESS PEPPERBOX REVOLVERS BY WILLIAMS & POWELL OF LIVERPOOL, 3.5inch six barrel fluted cylinders engraved with scrolling foliage at the muzzles, border and finely engraved rounded actions decorated with a serpent to the right side and Cooper's patent details to the left, blued ring triggers, blued sliding safeties, border and scroll engraved backstraps engraved with the owner's initials, the stepped butts with traps engraved with scrolling foliage and the maker's details THOS. WILLIAMS LIVERPOOL, contained in their blue baize lined mahogany case, the lid with maker's trade label, complete with commensurate accessories comprising nipple key, turnscrews, starting and cleaning rod, nipple pot, cap pot, white metal three-way flask by Dixon, white metal cap dispenser by Allport, bullet and ball mould with blued sprue cutter, and two further Eley cap tins, the outside of the lid with brass escutcheon engraved Presented to Mr Light by Mr Moss.
A RARE .650 CALIBRE PATTERN 1843 JUNIOR CADET PERCUSSION CARBINE, 26.5inch sighted barrel with various Ordnance stamps at the breech, border engraved lock stamped with a crown over VR over TOWER and dated 1847, full stocked with regulation brass mounts, trigger guard tang stamped with the rack number 15, steel ramrod. See page 40 of British Military Longarms by D W Bailey and page 279 of British Military Firearms by Blackmore.
A VERY RARE FRAMED GEORGE III GUIDON TO THE ISLE OF WIGHT VOLUNTEER CAVALRY, the white silk body finely painted to one side with a crowned GRIII cypher within a blue garter containing the regimental title, the whole within a spray of thistles and roses, the opposing side painted with a crowned shield form crest, tower and VECTIS, within a spray of oak leaves and acorns, surmounted with a blue scroll bearing the regimental title in gold and black, 91.5 x 56cm. Professionally conserved and framed between two sheets of glass. Losses and wear.
A VERY RARE GEORGIAN GUIDON TO THE DENBIGHSHIRE YEOMANRY CAVALRY, the blue silk body painted with opposing red dragons and regimental titles DENBIGHSHIRE YC, all within laurel wreaths, the Prince of Wales feathers centred within a laurel and oak leaf wreath, the opposing side painted to match, silver bullion trim, 91 x 53cm. Professionally conserved and framed between two sheets of glass. Losses and wear.
A FINE AND RARE LATE 18TH CENTURY BASKET HILTED BACKSWORD OF THE GARDE ECOSSAISE, 67cm blade formed as a backsword then transitioning to a broadsword, profusely etched with scrolling foliage and talismanic symbols, further etched with the maker's details COULLIER RUE ST. HONORE NO.574 A PARIS, characteristic sheet steel basket hilt pierced about with saltire, geometric designs and narrow slots, spirally fluted pommel, wire bound grip, leather backed red velvet liner. This sword forms part of a group of very similar swords, all sharing similar hilts and pommels but with a variety of blade lengths and designs and all associated with the Garde Ecossaise - designed for the close protection of the King of France and composed exclusively of Scottish soldiers.
A VERY RARE EAST INDIA COMPANY 1803 PATTERN INFANTRY OFFICER'S SWORD, 76cm curved double fullered blade decorated with scrolling foliage, floral sprays, stands of arms, crowned Royal arms and crowned GR cypher, regulation copper gilt hilt incorporating the rampant lion emblem of the EIC within a laurel wreath, lion's head pommel, wire bound ribbed ivory grip, contained in its copper gilt mounted leather scabbard complete with knot.
A VERY RARE 1796 PATTERN INFANTRY OFFICER'S SWORD TO THE 7TH REGIMENT OF FOOT (ROYAL FUSILIERS), 81cm, broad flattened diamond section blade by Eginton, etched with scrolling foliage, a stand of arms, the figure of Britannia, crowned Royal Arms, crowned GR cyphers and crowned regimental device surmounted by 7th, regulation copper gilt hilt, the inside of the shell guard applied with a crowned regimental device to either side, D-shaped knuckle bow, urn pommel, wire bound grip, contained in its copper gilt mounted leather scabbard, the upper mount with maker's panel. Wear to lower scabbard leather.
A RARE BRASS HILTED 1821 PATTERN LIGHT CAVALRY TROOPER'S SWORD TO THE WESTMORLAND YEOMANRY CAVALRY, 82cm curved fullered blade by REEVES, regulation three-bar brass hilt engraved W.Y.C. over 4, ribbed leather covered grip, contained in its brass scabbard engraved W.Y.C. over 1 beneath the throat.
A RARE 16TH CENTURY OTTOMAN OR TURKISH BUCKLER OR SHIELD FROM THE ST IRENE ARSENAL, the 38cm convex spiralling wicker body with reddish brown leather facing, the large central metal boss with fluted decoration bearing the Arsenal stamp of St Irene, the whole secured with a border of geometric stitches, the brown leather backing with leather grip. The St Irene Arsenal, formally the Haiga Eirene Church is located in Istanbul (Constantinople). The central boss is reflective of the central panel of the traditional Krug armour. Some splitting to leather backing otherwise very good.
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