Portrait gem of Thomas Walpole (1727-1803) by Edward Burch RA (1730-1814)
London, circa 1780
comprising of a golden coloured citrine with three flat ovoid surfaces upon which are carved a portrait of Thomas Walpole, the coat of arms of the Walpole family as well as the conjoined initials ‘TW’, mounted on two steel pins which allow the stone to be rotated to change the impression the seal can create.
Signed: ‘BURCH F(ecit)’
Mounted in a rose gold swivel fob, comprising of chased gold scrolls with a retractable armature which secures the stone in place.
Illustrated
A plaster impression of this gem can be found as number 48 in Burch’s ‘A Catalogue of One Hundred Proofs from Gems’ published in 1795. The accompanying catalogue records that the gem depicts the Honourable Thomas Walpole and that it belonged to Walpole when the catalogue was published, presumably as his personal seal. The portrait is noted in the catalogue as Burch’s own composition and describes the gem as a topaz, a common error made during the eighteenth century when citrines and golden topaz were often described interchangeably.
Thomas Walpole (1727-1803) was nephew of Prime Minister Robert Walpole (1676-1745) and cousin of Horace Walpole (1717 – 1797) who owned the Gothic mansion Strawberry Hill. He married the daughter of Joshua Vanneck at the age of 22 (one of the richest merchants in Europe) and was a Member of Parliament from 1754 until 1784. He also served as a Director of the East India Company.
Edward Burch was born in London circa 1730. His considerable talents as a draughtsman were developed in the St Martin’s Lane Academy and in a drawing school established in the cast gallery of the Duke of Richmond, where he received tuition from artists Joseph Wilton and Giovanni Battista Cipriani.
The Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Commerce and Manufactures, an organisation established to nurture young artists, launched a prize in 1759 for gem engraving. The following year Burch entered a cameo of the Apollo Medici, which won in his class. Burch continued to exhibit engraved gems and casts at the Society and from 1760, also exhibited a The Society of Artists, winning many prizes.
He joined the newly formed Royal Academy of Arts as a student, under the tutelage of anatomist Dr William Hunter. He was elected a Royal Academician in 1771. His entry work, which remains in the Royal Academy to this day, was a carved carnelian intaglio of the god Neptune (RA 03/3595).
He exhibited his work at the Academy from 1771 until 1808 and is depicted in Zoffany’s famous painting of the first Academicians circa 1771-72. He included among his patrons The Prince of Wales, The Prince of York, Empress Catherine the Great of Russia, Prince Stanislas Poniatowski, George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough and Joshua Reynolds.