The Mary Hamilton Papers : Catalogue of curiosities at Bulstrode (November 1784)

Hamilton, Mary, to be determined

The Mary Hamilton Papers

<p style='text-align: justify;'>A manuscript volume of a 'Catalogue of Curiosities at Bulstrode', written in the hand of Mary Hamilton and in another unidentified hand. The volume is inscribed by Hamilton: 'An Humble attempt to give a description of some of the things in the possession of her Grace the Duchess Dow of Portland, Bulstrode Nov[em]ber 1784 | There is not mention[e]d in the following Catalogue any thing that was not purchased by her Grace or given to her neither are Pictures &c. which the late Earl of Oxford gave to the late Duke of Portland nor any part of the Collection at Welbeck | Mary Hamilton | Clarges Street London'.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>The volume contains detailed descriptions of Queen Elizabeth's Prayer Book, illuminated manuscripts, an 'illuminated missal given by her present Majesty Queen Charlotte in 1779', an ornament given by Mary Queen of Scots to the Duke of Norfolk, numerous miniatures, paintings, sculptures, intaglios and other 'curiosities'. The volume also includes a 22-page catalogue of emblems and mottoes on a rosary by Benvenuto Cellini, and a 6-page catalogue of the pictures in the hall and dressing-room at Bulstrode.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Inserted in the volume are a number of loose leaves containing a drawing of an object presumably at Bulstrode, a list of pictures bought by the Dowager Duchess of Portland from a sale, and a newspaper cutting dated 1784 announcing the birth of a son to the Infanta Louisa Maria, consort to the Prince of Asturias.</p>