Traditional & Contemporary Pictures & Prints - Dreweatt Neate

26
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William John Huggins (1791-1845)
The East Indiaman Ceres, in two positions, arriving off
St. Helena
Oil on canvas
Indistinctly signed lower left
75cm x 120cm;
Also
Andrew Robertson, M.A. (1777-1835)
Portrait miniature of Hugh Scott of Draycott (1777-1852),
Captain of the Ceres
Signed with monogram verso and inscribed ' Capt Scott
by A. Robertson, 34 Gerard Street, 1815'
8cm x 7cm, oval
Provenance: Hugh Scott of Draycott, the sitter in the
miniature and Captain of the Ceres, and thence by direct
descent
Hugh Scott was a cousin of Sir Walter Scott of
Abbotsford (Hugh's grandfather was Sir Walter's
Grandfather's elder brother). He is mentioned in Memoirs
of the life of Walter Scott as "Captain Hugh Scott of the
East India Company's Naval Service (now of Draycote
House, near Derby), second son to the late Laird of
Raeburn" page 234. It seems that Hugh Scott gave
Walter Scott 24 pieces of Chinese wallpaper each 12 foot
high by four foot wide enough to "finish the drawing room
and two bedrooms (at Abbotsford)". The wallpaper is still
on the walls at Abbotsford and it would seem highly
probable that Hugh Scott brought this gift back with him
on the Ceres from China.
Sir Walter Scott's brother, Robert Scott, of Rosebank,
was also in the East India Company and the last
Commander of the Neptune.
By the standards of her day, Ceres was a large East Indiaman and was built by John Perry in his
Thames-side yard at Blackwall. Launched on 28th January 1797, she was measured at 1,430 tons
and was 144 feet in length with a 43 foot beam. Originally owned by Thomas Newte, her first voyage
was to India and thence China, departing England on 6th April 1797 and returning on 22nd October
1798. Four further round trips to China followed between 1800 and 1807, after which she was sold to
George Stevens who appointed Captain Hugh Scott as her new master. Under Scott she completed
four more voyages, including her final two which both took in calls at St. Helena, but after returning
home in May 1816 she was sold again and thereafter relegated to a hulk.
Although this location is an unusual one for Huggins, who normally employed the Channel coast off
or near Dover, the number of similar portraits of East Indiamen by him suggests that he may have
been retained by the E.I.C. for the purpose. It is probable that this portrait was done to mark this
vessel's retirement in 1816 and shows her calling at the island of St. Helena, the usual watering
place for E.I.C. ships heading to and from the East.
£20,000-30,000
www.dnfa.com/donnington