John Sandon
Consultant
Lot 114
The Hay Goblet: an important Jacobite goblet, circa 1768
1 May 2013, 14:00 BST
London, New Bond Street£6,000 - £8,000
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The Hay Goblet: an important Jacobite goblet, circa 1768
With a generous rounded funnel bowl, engraved with a splendid seven-petalled formal rose and a single bud on a leafy stem crossed with a thistle among three slender leaves, flanking a crown above the initials I*H, on an opaque twist stem with a pair of heavy spiral threads encircling a gauze, 22.8cm high (minor chips to foot)
Footnotes
Provenance: Sir John Hay of Restalrig (1708/9-1781)
With Arthur Churchill Ltd., 17 February 1948
Anon sale, Sotheby's, 21 November 2000, lot 147
Chris Crabtree Collection
An old paper label on the foot of this glass records the early history...
'One of a pair, stated to have been the gift of Prince Charles to his treasurer and secretary JOHN HAY, who served throughout the 1745 campaign. was major-domo of the Household & went with Charles to Rome in 1766, created a baronet & left Charles' service in 1768 Dec. 8th. Both glasses chp'd'
Sir John Hay took over as secretary to Prince Charles Edward Stuart in April 1746, succeeding John Murray of Broughton. Although he acted with the best of intentions, Hay proved to be an ineffective administrator and his failings as Quartermaster contributed to the routing the Jacobites received at Culloden. In spite of this, John Hay remained a friend as well as a confidant of Prince Charles and accompanied the Prince to Rome in 1766 when James Stuart, Prince Charles' father, died. On their return, Hay was appointed Master of the Household of King Charles III and was also made a baronet of Scotland.
As the label on this glass records, Hay left Charles's service in 1768. Hay and others were notoriously dismissed for refusing to countenance a particularly outrageous piece of drunken behaviour by Charles. He returned to England and in 1771 Hay was pardoned by King George III for his part in the uprising.
Geoffrey Seddon attributed this glass to engraver B. Although there is no evidence to show this glass was actually given to John Hay by Prince Charles himself, few pieces of Jacobite glass can be linked so closely to Charles Stuart's circle of friends and supporters.