Jacobite Marriage Commemorative Box 1719
11" long, 5" deep and 4.5" tall
£SOLD - It was purchased by an overseas collector who will be offering it for exhibit to a Scottish museum specializing in Jacobite artifacts. It will NOT be leaving the country. (updated 24/10/24)
A stunning oak box made in 1719 to celebrate the marriage between James Francis Edward Stuart & Clementina Sobieska in 1719. James was the exiled King of Great Britain and the son of the deposed King James VII and II. Clementina was the granddaughter of King John III of Poland and goddaughter to Pope Clement XI
The Jacobites were/are(!) the supporters of King James VII of Scotland and II of England. This box celebrates the marriage of the man they followed, the father of Bonnie Prince Charlie.
One of Scotland’s leading Jacobite Historians has said the following about this box (full response and details are available).
….a rare example of a piece of Jacobite culture which commemorates the marriage.
Very much more likely than not to be a Jacobite piece-unusual both for commemorating the marriage and for being quite crude ‘country’ work.
This is without a doubt the best piece of Scottish Social History we have ever had come through our doors. The box is off to get professionally photographed; but it is for sale now.
Its rare because its provincial in nature (items like this don’t tend to last 305 years) and it’s an early Jacobite piece – most other pieces that come to the market depict Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1745 or onwards, this box commemorates the marriage of his parents the year before he was born. We haven’t seen much on the market relating to James, the Old Pretender.
I’ll try and do a video on it too, talking about the images on the box and the make up of the box too.