- Museum number
- SL,5308.44
- Description
-
Design for a seal of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, from the 'Jewellery Book'; crowned head of a roaring lion at centre, surrounded by two bands of a circular garter inscribed with motto
Pen and black ink, with grey wash; cut diagonally
- Production date
- 1532-1543 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 47 millimetres
-
Width: 47 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- See also SL,5308.1-179
Rowlands 1993
LITERATURE: Reid, pl. 4; Woltmann, i, p. 439, ii, p. 136, no. 199, 44; His, pl. xl, 1; LB, ii, pp. 335f, no. 29a; Chamberlain, ii, p. 280, pl. 50, 4; Ganz, p. 69, no. 387, repr.; White, p. 561, no. 47; Sutton Place, Renaissance, p. 79, no. 66, 11a; BM Dürer and Holbein, pp. 241-2, no. 208(a), repr.
The reference in the inscription to 'the Honour of Richmond' enables us to date the drawing with reasonable accuracy. From the inventory of the Exchequer, Augumentation Office (Public Record Office, E.318, no. 1076; the document was discovered by Miss Margaret Condon) we learn that the first Duke of Suffolk (d. 1545) received by exchange in the twenty-ninth year of Henry VIII's reign (i.e. 22 April 1537-21 April 1538) and amongst grants of Crown lands chiefly in Lincolnshire, the office of feodary of the Honour of Richmond. All these lands were then called 'Richmondlands' as they had been formerly in
the possession of the Duke of Richmond and Somerset, Henry Fitzroy, an illegitimate son of the King, who had died on 22 July 1536. It is highly likely that this design was ordered from Holbein by the Duke of Suffolk on gaining the office of feodary, most probably when the grant was made, or shortly afterwards. An impression of this seal has not been traced, despite extensive enquiries.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1960, BM, Sloane Drawings, (no cat.)
1983 May-Sep, Guildford, Sutton Place, 'Renaissance', no. 66ii
1988 Jul-Oct, BM, Age of Dürer & Holbein, no.209a
1990 Apr-Aug, BM, Treasures of P&D, (no cat.)
2002/3, Oct-April, BM, 'Hans Sloane's Collection of Prints and Drawings' (no cat.)
2006/7 Sep-Jan, London, Tate Britain, 'Holbein in England'
2021-22, 19 Oct-9 Jan, Los Angeles, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Holbein: Capturing Character in the Renaissance
2022, 11 Feb-15 May, New York, The Morgan Library & Museum, Holbein: Capturing Character in the Renaissance
- Acquisition date
- 1753
- Acquisition notes
- Transferred from the Dept. of Manuscripts to Prints + Drawings on 20 July 1860. For a history of the contents of Sloane 5308, see SL,5308.1.
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- SL,5308.44
- Additional IDs
-
Miscellaneous number: Add.5308.a (Dept. of Manuscripts Mss no.)