£13,860
A Private Collection of Seals: Highlights from The Matrix Collection | 749
Auction: 19 May 2023 at 11:00 BST
the tapered hexagonal facetted lapis lazuli handle with carved heraldic shield with initials WS within, the chased domed mounts with foliate scrolls, flower heads and reeded detail, enclosing a rounded square amethyst with engraved full armorial
Heraldry
Arms: Quarterly 1st and 4th Or two mullets in chief and a crescent in base azure within an orle of the last (for Scott) 2nd and 3rd Or on a bend azure three mascles of the field in the sinister chief point an oval buckle erect of the second (for Haliburton)
Crest: A nymph in her dexter hand the sun and in her sinister hand the moon all proper
Supporters: (Dexter) A mermaid holding in the exterior hand a mirror proper
(Sinister) A savage wreathed round the head and middle holding in the exterior hand a club proper
Mottos:
(Above the crest) Reparabit cornua Phoebe [The moon will replenish her horns]
(Below the crest) Watch weel [Watch well]
Note:
This impressive and finely carved seal appears to date perfectly to the granting of the Baronetcy and Knighthood of Walter Scott in 1820. It is a classic example of Regency style and would have befitted Sir Walter Scott, now part of the Scottish gentry.
His letter writing is well recorded and this piece likely sealed letters to not only the great and the good, but also correspondence destined for King George IV which would lead to his return to Scotland in 1824.
Scott’s personal interest in Scottish history and life is much discussed and his collection of historical arms and armour is famous, much of which still decorates his remarkable Borders home, Abbotsford. He also commissioned much of the finery needed for a new country estate befitting a Knight and a seal such as this would have been a hugely important gentleman's accessory.
Sir Walter Scott was born in Edinburgh’s Old Town of Edinburgh in 1771. His father was a successful lawyer, his mother the daughter of a Professor of Medicine at Edinburgh University. After suffering polio in 1773, he was sent to his grandfather's farm at Sandyknowe in Roxburghshire, living there until 1775, and, listening to stories from his grandfather and others, the young Scott developed his life-long love of Border history and folklore.
On returning to Edinburgh, he attended the High School and Edinburgh University. In 1792, he became an Advocate, and was appointed Sheriff-Depute of Selkirkshire in 1799. This allowed him to travel across Scotland in search of history and material to use in his poetry and fiction, eventually publishing his monumental Minstrelsy of the Scottish Borders in 1802.
It was in the Borders that Scott was happiest. It was there that he wrote the great epic poems 'The Lay of the Last Minstrel', 'Marmion' and' Lady of the Lake' between 1804 and 1810. With his fame, fortune and family growing, Scott turned to creating Abbotsford, which was completed in 1824.
Sir Walter Scott is one of the most successful authors of all time and is the second-most quoted writer in the Oxford English Dictionary after William Shakespeare. Scott’s creativity, wit and understanding of human nature remain on display in his works, but it is only through visiting Abbotsford and the Scottish Borders that one can truly understand the man himself.