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nguthrie.bsky.social
neil guthrie
@nguthrie.bsky.social
2.1K followers 350 following 1.5K posts
Collector. Antiquary. The Material Culture of the Jacobites (2014). Guthrie’s Guide to Better Legal Writing (2017, 2021). Trustee, George R Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art
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nguthrie.bsky.social
Chinese teabowl decorated c1744 by Christian Friedrich Metzsch in Bayreuth, with E&H Manners, London #c18th #c18 #
Painted with a continuous harbour scene to the exterior.
January 25, 2026 at 1:12 PM
Reposted by neil guthrie
fakehistoryhunter.net
They don't make nursery rhymes like they used to...

From Tommy Thumb's Song Book (1744):
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_T...
January 24, 2026 at 11:11 PM
Reposted by neil guthrie
drbibliomane.bsky.social
Choose 20 paintings that have stayed with you or influenced you — one painting a day (or thereabouts) for 20 days, no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just paintings.

Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, The Swing of Pulcinella, detail from fresco, 1793, Ca' Rezzonico, Venice.
Ceiling oval; we are looking from below at a four Pulcinella figures from the comedia dell' arte, all dressed in white with conical hats, and the masks giving them hooked noses. One figure is straddling a kind of tight rope suspended between trees on a cliff ; a second figures seems to be trying to pull the rope to make it more taut. Two other figures look up at the first figure. A ladder is beside them. Blue sky with fluffy clouds takes up most of the space in the painting.
January 23, 2026 at 2:05 PM
Reposted by neil guthrie
rhwhite.bsky.social
A number of Meissen animal figures, photos I took last year at the Zwinger in Dresden. Made during the 1730s and intended for Augustus the Strong's Japanese Palace. Several are also in Boston's MFA and the Met and elsewhere. Amazing.
Typical firing cracks. On gilt faux-rock formations. Well, they do "pop". A sweet scene. A not-so-sweet scene.
January 24, 2026 at 12:24 PM
nguthrie.bsky.social
Pleased to add Brigid Brophy's Mozart the Dramatist (revised edition) to my Brophy-Levey shelf, where it will be next to her husband's The Life and Death of Mozart (rev. ed.). Both books are so good! @brophylevey.bsky.social #c18th #c18 #18thc
Front covers of the books, each with a 1980s portrait of the composer based on 18c originals
January 24, 2026 at 11:49 AM
nguthrie.bsky.social
Coffee cup from the Vezzi factory (c1720-27), recently sold by E&H Manners, London #c18th #c18 #18thc
White porcelain cup painted with two spider's webs suspended from thistles in a palette of iron-red, green and blue with black outlines; in the interior, an iron-red scrollwork border close to the rim. From the dealer (lightly edited): 'Giovanni Vezzi established this first Italian hard-paste porcelain factory on the Giudecca in Venice in 1720 with a financial guarantee from his father, Francesco, a successful goldsmith. It was remarkable in being the first European factory to have been started by merchants intent on establishing a business rather than by a prince. The technical skills of porcelain manufacture were supplied by the itinerant arcanist Christoph Konrad Hunger, who had been persuaded to flee Meissen in 1717 by Graf von Virmont, representative of the Austrian court at Dresden, and establish the factory of Claudius Innocentius Dupaquier in Vienna. Hunger's stay there was brief before moving on to Venice. The clay used initially by Vezzi was the same as that used by Meissen and was smuggled from Aue in Saxony. Hunger quarrelled with Vezzi and left in 1724. The factory struggled to survive, finally being forced to close and dismantle the kilns in 1727. After the demolition of the kilns a quantity of undecorated porcelain remained, which Vezzi and his collaborators continued to decorate until at least 1735; and so it is always difficult to date the decoration of Vezzi porcelain precisely.'
January 23, 2026 at 11:13 AM
Reposted by neil guthrie
bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social
Some breaking art historical news for you - a lost portrait of Robert Burns by Sir Henry Raeburn was unveiled today at the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh. It’s been missing for more than 200 years.
1/3
January 22, 2026 at 2:36 PM
nguthrie.bsky.social
Interesting article in Coin News (March 2025) that I just came across on a group of #Jacobite medals in a leather case, now in the Royal Collection, that probably once belonged to the Stuart claimant 'Charles III' #c18th #c18 #18thc
First page of the article: 'Bonnie Prince Charlie's Medal Set' by Jeremy Cheek. The red morocco leather medal case, presented to King George V (I think; Cheek says VI but then refers to Queen Mary) by a descendant of Andrew Lumisden, quondam secretary to Charles Edward. Lumisden probably received it from his master, perhaps after being dismissed. (Lumisden tried unsuccessfully to restrain a grossly drunken Charles Edward from attending a public event and was sacked.) The unpierced touchpiece of 'Charles III' (exceedingly rare in any state) suggests that the group once belonged to the Young Pretender himself. His father had a similar case, which was sold in the sale of the Earl (Duke in the Jacobite peerage) of Perth in 2012. It was acquired by Lord Perth empty and filled based on the sizes of the apertures with the help of Noel Woolf, author of The Medallic Record of the Jacobite Movement. The medals were auctioned separately; the case went to the Hunterian in Glasgow. I was also a bidder and regret not getting it (I was going to donate it to the Ashmolean) but also regret bidding up the price (my maximum bid was the hammer price, but the Hunterian had placed an earlier bid at that amount and may have been prepared to go higher)
January 22, 2026 at 11:30 AM
nguthrie.bsky.social
From the Gardiner Museum, Toronto
January 21, 2026 at 6:15 PM
nguthrie.bsky.social
Live! Frozen Delights: A History of Porcelain and Ice Cream
Screenshot of opening slide depicting a Worcester ice pail
January 21, 2026 at 6:04 PM
nguthrie.bsky.social
Chinese porcelain wine cup (Dehua, 17C), painted and mounted in gilt copper in the Preissler workshop in Kronstadt, Bohemia (c1720), sold recently by E&H Manners, London #c18th #c18 #18thc
Octagonal white cup depicting the Eight Immortals picked out in applied black with added black scrollwork. Mounted on a gilt copper base, with a pair of curved handles featuring female busts
January 21, 2026 at 11:17 AM
Reposted by neil guthrie
gilesmacdonogh.bsky.social
The Death of a Gourmand: open.substack.com/pub/gilesmac...
The Last Days of Brillat-Savarin
The Death of a Gourmand
open.substack.com
January 20, 2026 at 5:48 PM
nguthrie.bsky.social
Abraham and Frederik Bloemaart, Oorspronkelyk en Vermaard Konstryk Tekenboek van Abraham Bloemaart (1740), with Ursus Books, NYC #c18th #c18 #18thc
Study of hands from Abraham Bloemaert's Drawing Book illustrated with line engravings and chiaroscuros by Frederik Bloemaert after his father's designs.
January 20, 2026 at 11:34 AM
Reposted by neil guthrie
rhwhite.bsky.social
A late 18th century Chinese Export dish decorated in a version of the ‘sworl’ Queen Charlotte pattern in blue and iron-red with gilt highlights. Copying a Worcester (on the right), and others' pattern popular at the time, which was itself a copy of an Imari design. A pattern made around the world.
MARKS No maker’s mark. MEASUREMENTS 8 3/8” (21.3 cm) in diameter, 1 1/2” (3.8 cm) deep. A circa 1770 Worcester small soft-paste (soapstone) porcelain saucer decorated in a lightly-gilt imari iron-red and blue ‘sworl’, design, later referred to as the Queen Charlotte pattern. MARKS On the underside is an open crescent moon mark in blue and a previous owner’s label with the written text: F.G.H. 3o. MEASUREMENTS 5 1/4” (13 cm) in diameter.
January 19, 2026 at 3:41 PM
nguthrie.bsky.social
Porcelain box depicting eruptions of Vesuvius from 1754 to 1799 (Naples, c1800). Yours from E&H Manners, London, if you can spare £24,000 (wish I could!) #c18th #c18 #18thc
Cylindrical box and stand, pale pink ground, each reserve with three oval panels depicting the eruptions of Mount Vesuvius in 1754, 1759, 1760, 1773, 1794 and 1799, alternating with pairs of animals in arched vignettes within richly patterned gilt borders. Cover with a gilt reclining lioness as a finial
January 19, 2026 at 12:31 PM
Reposted by neil guthrie
rhwhite.bsky.social
A Chinese Export porcelain octagonal plate decorated in the Japanese Kakiemon ‘two quails’ pattern in green and iron-red with gilt highlights and a double row of leaves in red along the rim. A very popular motif, you can see it on porcelain from Meissen, Chantilly, Chelsea, Bow and more.
MARKS No maker’s mark. MEASUREMENTS 7 3/4” (19.7 cm) in diameter.
January 18, 2026 at 10:53 PM
nguthrie.bsky.social
Wish I could get to New Haven for this lecture by Frédéric Ogée! (No travel to the US for the time being.)
Art and Truth: William Hogarth and the English Enlightenment https://view.message.yale.edu/?qs=8cbbe0089eca0f427b8085442b0f90a638b72a91eb573cb5bb23ee498780a5fb25d673c571fde0e73afdd09c2383d79f6dd46ea04b9e4d5b3ee088a08463310c5623af33153a761fbadc65540a8ad59b
January 18, 2026 at 11:12 AM
Reposted by neil guthrie
crcversailles.bsky.social
#Versailles3D Mise en ligne de la modélisation de "La chambre des bains de la reine Marie Leszczynska (1746-1747)", réalisation des étudiants de la licence professionnelle Métiers du numérique : patrimoine, visualisation et modélisation 3D (LPMN) @cy-univ.bsky.social

➡️ youtu.be/jPiIKh_qdLw?...
November 26, 2025 at 9:03 AM
nguthrie.bsky.social
Dish from a 600-piece service made by Wedgwood for presentation by the East India Company to Fath 'Ali Shah, the second Qajar dynasty Shah of Persia, in 1810. Long #c18th #c18 #18thc
Round, shallow dish rimmed in gold with white ground painted with peonies in blue with gilt stems and veins on the leaves, after Islamic originals. At the top and bottom are two oval, gilt cartouches, which read (based on a dish from this service in the V&A and the explanatory text about it) 'Fath Ali Shah Qajar, the Sultan, son of the Sultan' in Farsi script. The subject of a Transferware Collectors Society online lecture on 15 January, which I sadly had to miss.
January 17, 2026 at 11:13 AM
nguthrie.bsky.social
Can you identify this small silver object (c1720), which is about 9 cm (3.5 in) long? Answer in the alt text #c18th #c18 #18thc
It's a case for a stick of sealing wax. Tapering rectangular form, with hinged lid, engraved leaf decoration around the base and the edges of the openings, rosettes on each side just below the top of the shaft. No hallmark, maker’s mark IB surmounted by a crown, possibly for Joseph Barbut (Grimwade 1114). Another example of a pretty but not entirely necessary article? (see asparagus servers in previous posts ...)
January 16, 2026 at 11:47 AM
Reposted by neil guthrie
drsyntax.bsky.social
“These are the times that try men’s souls…” —Thomas Paine (whom I’m rereading with urgency these days)
January 16, 2026 at 4:16 AM
nguthrie.bsky.social
One of a pair of Chelsea tureens in the form of double pigeons (c1755), Cecil Higgins Museum, Bedford #c18th #c18 #18thc
Two seated pigeons, white with dark puce/grey wing feathers and heads, facing each other with a flowering branch below
January 15, 2026 at 11:23 AM
Reposted by neil guthrie
nguthrie.bsky.social
Benedict Arnold, loyalist 🇬🇧:)
joshrgreenberg.bsky.social Joshua R Greenberg @joshrgreenberg.bsky.social · 11d
It is Benedict Arnold's birthday. For obvious reasons his image was never on a bank note, but it is an opportunity for me to post one with an elaborate vignette of Gen. Burgoyne's surrender at the Battle of Saratoga where Arnold was wounded in the leg. Bank of Old Saratoga, NY, $10, Jan 25, 1858. 🗃️
January 15, 2026 at 2:00 AM
nguthrie.bsky.social
Benedict Arnold, loyalist 🇬🇧:)
joshrgreenberg.bsky.social Joshua R Greenberg @joshrgreenberg.bsky.social · 11d
It is Benedict Arnold's birthday. For obvious reasons his image was never on a bank note, but it is an opportunity for me to post one with an elaborate vignette of Gen. Burgoyne's surrender at the Battle of Saratoga where Arnold was wounded in the leg. Bank of Old Saratoga, NY, $10, Jan 25, 1858. 🗃️
January 15, 2026 at 2:00 AM
nguthrie.bsky.social
Another pincushion produced at the time of the #Jacobite rising in 1745-46. The text is a bit hard to make out but is provided in the alt #c18th #c18 #18thc
Very faded, but the pattern of the woven fabric is meant to be a green and red tartan. On the ribbon attached to the pincushion, GOD PRESERVE ENGLAND AND. On the pincushion itself, the continuation DOWN WITH RUMP. A reference to the Rump Parliament of 1648-53 (purged of MPs who opposed the trial of King Charles I) but used by Tories and Jacobites in the 18th century to refer to the Whig-dominated politics of the day. GOD BLESS P.C. [Prince Charles] AND is also frequently seen on the ribbon portion
January 14, 2026 at 11:12 AM