Lot 84
JOHN PLOTT (1732-1803)
WILLIAM CREECH, CIRCA 1775
Auction: 25 March 2009 at 11:00 GMT
Description
watercolour on ivory, signed 'J.P.' in a shagreen case, 6cm x 5cm; and another miniature, attributed to John Plott of William Creech's intended, watercolour on ivory, in a shagreen case, 6cm x 5cm (2)
Footnote
Provenance:
Bequeathed by William Creech to his second cousin Dr Charles Watson of Burntisland, Fife and by family descent.
Note:
William Creech was the magistrate in Edinburgh in 1788 and was the Lord Provost from 1811-13. Creech was introduced by Lord Glencairn to Robert Burns soon after his arrival from Ayrshire in 1786. Lord Glencairn commissioned Creech to produce the enlarged First Edition of Burns' poems with a subscription issue of five hundred copies. Burns commemorated Creech 'Sweet Willie' in two poems: 'Burlesque Lament for the absence of William Creech, Publisher' and 'The Poets Progress'. It was Creech who commissioned Alexander Nasmyth in 1787 to paint the famous half-length portrait of Burns, now in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery.
Literature: This miniature of William Creech is photographed in 'Miniatures: Dictionary and Guide' by Daphne Foskett, 1987 Combined Edition, Antique Collectors Club, p.344, plate 99A