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Lot 139
A PAIR OF REVERSE GLASS PAINTINGS AFTER WILLIAM BUNBURY Qianlong period, circa 1785
24 January 2023, 10:00 EST
New YorkSold for US$6,120 inc. premium
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Michael Hughes
Vice President and Head of Department
A PAIR OF REVERSE GLASS PAINTINGS AFTER WILLIAM BUNBURY
Qianlong period, circa 1785
The first shows a musical gathering after an engraving by Bartolozzi based on a painting by William Bunbury depicting two seated ladies in white holding musical scores and singing, whilst a lady dressed in blue and wearing an extravagant red-feather hat plays a lute whilst standing at a lectern in a garden terrace setting, a boy stands by his seated mother reading the score over her shoulder and a dog sleeps at her feet; the second shows a farewell scene after an engraving by Watson, also based on a painting by William Bunbury, depicting a young swain atop his horse bidding farewell to two women, one who weeps, whilst an elderly lady seated at a bench holds a nosegay and the riders tricorn hat, a rather stern figure with arms crossed stands, waiting, before the rider, a dog drinks from a fountain to one side and in the mid-distance a standing figure, reading, can be glimpsed through a window with grapevine above that grows around the old building, a tall tower and building fill the distant sky.
14in (35.5cm) across (2).
The first shows a musical gathering after an engraving by Bartolozzi based on a painting by William Bunbury depicting two seated ladies in white holding musical scores and singing, whilst a lady dressed in blue and wearing an extravagant red-feather hat plays a lute whilst standing at a lectern in a garden terrace setting, a boy stands by his seated mother reading the score over her shoulder and a dog sleeps at her feet; the second shows a farewell scene after an engraving by Watson, also based on a painting by William Bunbury, depicting a young swain atop his horse bidding farewell to two women, one who weeps, whilst an elderly lady seated at a bench holds a nosegay and the riders tricorn hat, a rather stern figure with arms crossed stands, waiting, before the rider, a dog drinks from a fountain to one side and in the mid-distance a standing figure, reading, can be glimpsed through a window with grapevine above that grows around the old building, a tall tower and building fill the distant sky.
14in (35.5cm) across (2).
Footnotes
乾隆時期 約1785年 仿William Dunbury人物故事鏡畫一對
These are very fine examples of reverse glass painting, well painted and faithfully copying two prints after paintings by Sir Henry William Bunbury, 7th baronet, (1750-1811). The first, is based on a stipple etching by Francesco Bartolozzi (1727-1815) and published by William Dickinson in 1782. The etching is named 'The Song'. (fig. 1) It is one of a pair dedicated to Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, the other being 'The Dance'.
The second is based on an engraving by Thomas Watson (and published by William Dickinson in 1781) and was used as an illustration for Lawrence Sterne's last novel A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy (1768). The engraving is inscribed in English and French: "La Fleur kissed their hands round & round again, and thrice he wiped his eyes, and thrice he promised he would bring them all pardons from Rome".
Sterne's Sentimental Journey was a novel based on Sterne's own travels in 1765 and framed as an answer to Tobias Smollett's rather jaundiced Travels Through France and Italy of 1766, and Smollet appears in the later novel as the character Smelfungus.
The novel relates the travels of the Reverend Mr. Yorick, starting in Calais. In Montreuil he is persuaded to hire a servant and finds a local youth La Fleur, who is noted for little other than his conquests of the women of the town. The scene here shows his tearful parting from his admirers before leaving with his master on their journey towards Italy. This scene was published in some early editions of the book, entitled The Departure of La Fleur from Montreuil. (fig. 2)
That both these images were published by William Dickinson suggests he might have been responsible for the order from China.
References: Roche, Karen Marie (2008) Picturing an Englishman: The Art of Sir Henry William Bunbury, 1770-1787 (thesis for DPhil in English, University of Exeter).