TAIN – A RARE SCOTTISH PROVINCIAL SNUFF MULL
HUGH ROSS
Auction: Day 2: Thursday 21 August - Lots 297 - end
Description
marked HR conjoined (in oval punch), struck to interior of base, of squat and wide baluster form, the plain body with reeded girdle to lower third of body, the hinged cover with embossed decoration of scalloped shell flanked by twin sea beasts, the base engraved with crest and inscription ‘Gift of the Earl of Sutherland to Carroll 1747’
Dimensions
4.5cm high, 2.5oz
Provenance
Bonham’s The Scottish Sale 18th August 2009 lot 189 piece marks and details illustrated
Private Collection
References and exhibition:
The Tain Silver Collection in Tain & District Museum, E Quick, piece and details illustrated page 29
The John Kirk Collection
Footnote
Three baluster snuff mulls by Hugh Ross are recorded, all with chased decoration to the covers. This example and the ‘Achanie’ box feature more restrained flat chasing. The third is more elaborate with two figures, thought to be Prince Charles Edward Stuart and Flora Macdonald (see British Silver Boxes 1640-1840, The Lion Collection, item 142).
Much like the other mull with similar decoration, this example is engraved to the base. Research by Estelle Quick identifies the commissioning and presentation of this box by William Gordon, 17th Earl of Sutherland and Carroll (1708-1750) to his kinsmen Hugh Gordon of Carroll.
Hugh Gordon had petitioned for redress after the Jacobites burned his property at Kintradwell, north of Brora, before the battle of Culloden. It is possible this box may have been part of that payment of redress.