WD4435

Miniature portrait of Richard Colley Wellesley (1760-1842), successively Earl of Mornington and Marquess Wellesley, Governor-General of Bengal 1798-1805, with powdered hair and scarlet uniform, wearing the sash and star of St. Patrick and the star of the Turkish Crescent.

Inscribed on paper lining on reverse: ‘C. Shirreff Pinxt. Calcutta. 1804’.

Water-colour on ivory; 7.5 by 6.3 cm.

Purchased 1996.

Note: Shirreff was amongst those who signed the Calcutta address on the occasion of Lord Wellesley’s resignation in 1805. Wellesley was one of the original Knights of St. Patrick created in 1783. In 1799 the Armed Forces offered him a gift of the insignia of the Order made from Tipu Sultan’s jewels, which he at first refused, and only accepted when the offer was made by the Court of Directors in London. He wrote at this time to his wife, Hyacinthe, ‘‘I am looking for fine jewels for you - pearls, Emeralds, Rubies and Sapphires. Diamonds are better in Europe and cheaper, so I am told - you know I am quite ignorant about precious stones. The Directors have given me the Badge and Collar of St Patrick made up of Tipu Sultan’s jewels. I have accepted it, it is magnificently beautiful and of enormous value, I should think about 8 or 10,000 pounds sterling; it is the most superb decoration I have ever seen.’’ Carver Papers, quoted in ‘The Eldest Brother’, by Iris Butler, London 1973, p.286.

The Order of the Crescent was presented to Wellesley following the Peace of Amiens, ‘‘Egypt being evacuated by the troops under Baird on the conclusion of peace with France, our ambassador at the Porte was requested by the Sultan to express his warm acknowledgments for the timely succour sent him from India; and to present the Governor General with the star and ribbon of the Order of the Crescent, in token of his gratitude and esteem’.’ Lord Elgin from Constantinople, 1 May 1802, quoted in ‘Marquess Wellesley’ by W.M. Torrens, London 1880, p.249.