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neil guthrie

@nguthrie.bsky.social

1.9K followers 330 following 1.3K 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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The Georgian Lords @georgianlords.bsky.social · 1d

On the death of Frederick, Prince of Wales in 1751, a swathe of students and fellows of @ox.ac.uk composed verses of condolence, many in Latin and in English and a smattering in other languages. John Swinton MA of Christ Church showed off by offering two: one in Phoenician and the other in Etruscan.

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Reposted by neil guthrie

Deidre Lynch @drbibliomane.bsky.social · 18h

With its "medico-electrical apparatus," was Dr. James Graham's "celestial bed" in his "Temple of Health" in 1779 London a prototype for DJT's "med bed"?
There are just too many ways in which the #18thc is a useful guide to the hucksterism of 2025 America.
daily.jstor.org/the-prince-o...

Black and white image showing a nubile woman, in deshabille, reclining on the Celestial Bed, a kind of couch with a canopy over it. Statue of Mercury in a niche behind her.

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neil guthrie @nguthrie.bsky.social · 18h

Haha!

neil guthrie @nguthrie.bsky.social · 18h

Tell that to my cousin Henry Victor William Blundell-Hollinshead-Blundell (one of the people I am able remind that they are more Guthrie than Habsburg!)

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neil guthrie @nguthrie.bsky.social · 20h

'Neil in the Yellow Room' (who could that be?) by © Kris Knight (2025)

Portrait of a middle-aged white man seen from the chest up, head tilted to his right. He wears glasses with (from Rapp Optical on College Street in Toronto) and a pale blue shirt (Lord Willy's, NYC), open at the neck, with orange buttons. In the background, glimpses of a drawing (of a young man by Florent Manelli), a light blue and white ceramic plate (repro Hungarian 17C) hung on the yellow wall behind him and a white folding door to a 1950s galley kitchen in midtown Toronto. He's having a good hair day.

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neil guthrie @nguthrie.bsky.social · 1d

If I ever get a tattoo it would be this (maybe with the opening words) - but I won't because my (keloid/cheloid) skin turns bumpy when it scars

The flourish Corporal Trim makes in the air with his stick, graphically represented on the page with a repeatedly curling squiggle in IX.4 of Laurence Sterne's Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1759-

neil guthrie @nguthrie.bsky.social · 2d

On eBay now, a portrait of Sir Henry Raeburn on blue glass by William or Thomas Tassie #c18th #c18 #18thc

When held to the light, the blue colour of the glass is apparent.

Reposted by neil guthrie

Richard White @rhwhite.bsky.social · 3d

A circa 1730-35 du Paquier tureen and stand decorated with Chinese-inspired scenes within fan-shape cartouches, now in the Frick Museum. You have to love those fish handles. (see ALT)

Tureen and Stand

Du Paquier Porcelain Manufactory (Austrian, 1718−1744)
DATE ca. 1730–35
MEDIUM Hard-paste porcelain
DIMENSIONS Tureen: 7 × 12 1/2 in. (17.8 × 31.8 cm) Stand: 16 5/8 × 10 3/8 in. (42.2 × 26.4 cm)
CREDIT LINE Gift from the Melinda and Paul Sullivan Collection, 2016
ACCESSION NUMBER 2016.9.07

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Reposted by neil guthrie

Jesse "Pecke in the Crowne" Locker @jessemlocker.bsky.social · 3d

Good morning!

[Gaetano Giulio Zumbo, A Soul in Hell, 1670-1700, Wax, 11.5 cm x 10 cm (Victoria and Albert Museum, London)]

A screaming head modeled in wax, surrounded by demons and stylized flames

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neil guthrie @nguthrie.bsky.social · 3d

Thomas Patch, The Golden Asses (1761), Lewis Walpole Library, Farmington, Conn. #c18th #c18 #18thc

Large conversation piece of grand tourists (the asses of the title) in a ballroom hung with green silk wallpaper and portraits. Chequeboard marble floor in brown, white and black. Patch has depicted himself at the right, brandishing his palette and brush, astride a life-sized sculpture of a golden ass. In the foreground, a dog plays on the edge of collection of silver and silver gilt vessels placed on the marble floor. The picture is in the reading room at the Lewis Walpole.

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neil guthrie @nguthrie.bsky.social · 4d

New exhibition at the Lewis Walpole library: Caricaturas, Campagna and Connoisseurs: Thomas Patch and the British Grand Tour in Eighteenth-Century Italy (to 15 December) #c18th #c18 #18thc walpole.library.yale.edu/programs/exh...

Exhibitions | Lewis Walpole Library

walpole.library.yale.edu

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Reposted by neil guthrie

AHMUF @ahmuf.bsky.social · 5d

📖 Parution : Bernard Michon (dir.), "Le café en France
(XVIIe-XIXe siècles). Production, commercialisation et consommation
d’une marchandise exotique", La Geste/Presses universitaires de Nouvelle-Aquitaine, septembre 2025.

🖱️ Lien éditeur ➡️ www.gesteditions.com/puna/le-cafe...

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neil guthrie @nguthrie.bsky.social · 5d

Nice!

neil guthrie @nguthrie.bsky.social · 5d

Set of three grisaille paintings on leather depicting theatrical figures, possibly from the Commedia dell'arte (French, early #c18th #c18 #18thc), with Matthew Holder, London

The figures have heightened expressions and animated gestrures: one sings from an open songbook, another brandishes a jester's staff and the third plays the bagpipes. Painted in greys heightened with white

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Dr Anna Clark @drannaclark.bsky.social · 6d

Sublime dreams: Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Italian artist, architect & archaeologist, whose views of Rome & imaginary prisons influenced Neoclassicism & Romanticism; born #OTD 1720.
Colosseum, Vedute di Roma, etching 1757 | Plate III Carceri d’Invenzione,etching 1761
Princeton University Art Museum

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neil guthrie @nguthrie.bsky.social · 6d

I’m hoping to find it under the Christmas tree :)

neil guthrie @nguthrie.bsky.social · 6d

Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, 1st ed. (London, 1813), at Christie's, New York (est. US$120,000-180,000 - but will go for more). Long #c18th #c18 #18thc

First edition in a contemporary binding, with ownership inscriptions dated less than eight weeks after publication. In each volume is the ownership inscription, dated 20 March 1813, of Sir Maurice FitzGerald, 18th Knight of Kerry (1774-1849). FitzGerald was the husband of Maria La Touche, a cousin by marriage of Mary La Touche. Austen records in her letters that she visited and was visited by Mary and her daughter Miss East when Austen was in London in 1811, 1814 and 1815, straddling the publication of Pride and Prejudice. The three volumes, standing upright.

Volume 1, open at title page with ownership inscription.

Volume 1, open at page 1 ('It is a truth universally acknowledged, ...')

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neil guthrie @nguthrie.bsky.social · 7d

I covet the helmet

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Reposted by neil guthrie

Dr Liam Sims @liamsims.bsky.social · 7d

A new Archbishop of Canterbury will be elected tomorrow. This image showing four bishops racing for Lambeth Palace illustrated a satirical poem entitled ‘A race for Canterbury: or, Lambeth ho’, published in 1747 (when Thomas Herring succeeded John Potter). @theulspeccoll.bsky.social 7720.d.1680.

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neil guthrie @nguthrie.bsky.social · 7d

Aquamarine ring in silver and gold (Portugal, late #c18th #c18 #18thc), with Matthew Holder, London

Navette-shapped cluster ring with central marquise-cut aquamarine framed by 36 smaller old-cut aquamarines arranged in two concentric borders. The pale stones are set in silver (to enhance their brilliance); reverse of the bezel and shank are gold. Beaded gold border surrounding the stones

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Reposted by neil guthrie

M.B. @mjjbeaufils.bsky.social · 8d

Bottle coaster = dessous de bouteille.

J'aurai appris un nouveau mot d'anglais aujourd'hui 😋

neil guthrie @nguthrie.bsky.social · 8d

Pair of silver wine bottle coasters by Robert Hennell (London, 1792), with Nelson & Nelson, NYC #c18th #c18 #18thc

Circular coasters with straight sides, reeded rim and stepped base. Pierced and bright-cut egg-and-dart, pointille, and wavy borders; lion armorial. Stained wood well with concentric rings.

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neil guthrie @nguthrie.bsky.social · 8d

Et moi un peu de français !

Reposted by neil guthrie

Tobias Wilson-Bates @phdhurtbrain.bsky.social · 8d

Percy Shelley: I propose we amuse ourselves with a ghost story competition!

Mary Shelley: no.

Percy: what?! But why?

Mary: I refuse to do anything until Byron takes off that helmet

Byron:

Alina Stefanescu @alinaetc.bsky.social · 8d

The helmet of the poet.

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neil guthrie @nguthrie.bsky.social · 8d

Pair of silver wine bottle coasters by Robert Hennell (London, 1792), with Nelson & Nelson, NYC #c18th #c18 #18thc

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neil guthrie @nguthrie.bsky.social · 9d

Mahogany drawing table with 'racheted' top (able to be slanted), serpentine egdes and single drawer (English, c1730-40), with M Ford Creech, Memphis, Tenn. #c18th #c18 #18thc

Adjustable table veneered and cross-banded in figured mahogany, the serpentine ratcheted top having veneered mahogany over a solid mahogany substrate above a conforming serpentine case with frieze drawer, raised on 4 'lappet-headed', deeply chamfered legs on casters, the front legs with inset wooden casters and split to accommodate extending the fitted frieze drawer; brass handle / keyhole escutcheon, small brass stay at the centre backside

View from the back with top slanted up on its support

Side view with drawer pulled halfway out

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