Lot 625
CARVED SANDSTONE CAPSTONE OF JACOBITE INTEREST
LATE 17TH CENTURY
Auction: 5 February 2020 at 10:00 GMT
Description
of triangular shape, with crossed sword and pike, and initials I E K, dated 1698 below, surmounted by a coronet
Dimensions
45cm high x 39cm at widest point
Footnote
Note: The initials on this stone most likely refer to John Keith (d. 1714), Lord Keith of Inverurie and Keith Hall and first Earl of Kintore, maternal grandson of the Earl of Mar and the son of the 6th Earl of Marischal. The Earldom of Kintore and Lord Keith of Inverurie and Keith Hall was created in 1677. The 10th and last Earl Marischal was also John Keith (c. 1693-1778), a staunch Jacobite, who managed to escape to the Continent after actively participating in the rising of 1715. He served the Jacobite court at Avignon with ambassadorships to Spain and then Prussia, dying in Potsdam in 1778.
Although the original location of this stone is untraced, it presumably graced a lintel or doorway above one of many properties owned by the 1st Earl of Kintore. It is tempting to consider it may have been removed after the '15 in defiance of his participation from one of his forfeited estates.