Lot 8
MADRAS - AN INDIAN JEWELLERY BOX
P. ORR & SONS, LATE 19TH CENTURY
Auction: 16 September 2025 from 10:00 BST
Description
Of heart shaped outline, the border, chased with deities, velvet lined; together with a smaller box, unmarked of trefoil outline, chased deities and a sugar basin, with chased deities (3)
Dimensions
9.5cm, 7.5cm (at widest), 78g, 7.5cm diameter of bowl, 75.9g
Footnote
Orr & Sons was formed by Peter Nichols Orr who was apprenticed to Peter Lambert of Berwick and Montrose, one of the many Scottish trained goldsmiths who followed the expansion and wealth of the empire in search of fortune.
Peter arrived in Madras in 1843 and became a partner in George Gordon & Co (another expat Scottish maker) whom he would work with until the firm closed in 1848 and he returned to Europe.
Around 1851 Peter returned to Madras and worked for himself as a watchmaker establishing his business which in 1854 would take on his son James Edward Orr as apprentice and as partner in 1860 creating P Orr & Sons. In 1861 Robert Gordon Orr, brother of James, succeeded in the partnership. The business still continues today with twelve branches, surely the longest established silversmithing and jewellers in India whose legacy continues.