Lot 145
TWO WHITE PASTE RELIEF PORTRAITS BY JAMES TASSIE (SCOTTISH 1735-1799)
DATED 1791
Scottish Works of Art & Whisky
Auction: Lots 1 - 412 | 20 August 2024 at 10am
Description
depicting George Home and Allan Maconochie, each stamped with name, dated 1791 and ‘Tassie F’, each in a stained wood glazed oval frame mounted on a blue reverse painted glass backing, each 15cm high, 12cm wide; together with a CREAM WAX RELIEF PORTRAIT OF A GENTLEMAN, 19TH CENTURY, mounted in a circular ebonised glazed frame, 20cm diameter (3)
Dimensions
largest 20cm wide
Footnote
Note: James Tassie was born in Pollokshaws, Glasgow. He trained first as a stone mason and then attended the Foulis Academy in Glasgow. Tassie moved to Dublin in 1763, where he learned how to make imitations of antique cameos. He invented a formula for a type of glass paste which he used for the rest of his life to make gems and portrait medallions. Tassie moved to London in 1766. His reproductions of antique gems were avidly collected by patrons as distinguished as Catherine the Great of Russia. He was also the leading portrait modeller in Britain, making around five hundred medallions of his contemporaries.
George Home (c1735-1820), was a Scottish lawyer and Principal Clerk of the Court of Session. Home was a member of the celebrated literary circle in Edinburgh that included Henry Mackenzie, and contributed articles to "The Mirror". His family seat was Paxton House, built by Robert and James Adam in 1758, to which he added a spectacular picture gallery.
The Hon Allan Maconochie, Lord Meadowbank (1748–1816), was a Scottish advocate, academic jurist, judge and agriculturalist.