Lot 223
THREE BLAIR FAMILY PORTRAIT MAUCHLINE BOXES
CIRCA 1860
Auction: Day One: 14 March 2012 From 10am
Description
the largest with a printed portrait of William Fordyce Blair, one with a photographic image of Frederick Gordon Blair, and one with a photographic image of Mary Blair (3)
W F B 23cm wide, 8cm high, 28cm deep; F G B 19cm wide, 6cm high, 15cm deep; M B 18cm wide, 6cm high, 14.5cm deep
Note:An 1879 press cutting about the house notes that the box with William Fordyce's portrait: "is noteworthy as the first ever done in this style. It was a notion of the captain's own to have his portrait put on a box lid; but when he made the suggestion to the ingenious Mr Smith of Mauchline that gentleman laughed and expressed his decided opinion that it would never do. The experiment was made however, and it proved a great hit. Thousands of boxes have since been turned out in this style."