Yes a brass top to the Gregor MacGregor of Glengyle sporran, but not the plain leather body I mentioned.
If that MacDonald boy's sporran indeed has a brass top it might be The One.
About Sir Stuart Threipland, the painting depicts him being preserved from harm throughout the 1745-1746 rebellion (evidently by his Guardian Cherub) but when was it painted?
Certainly not in the period depicted, prior to him fleeing to France.
The painter, William Delacour, was doing portraits in Britain by 1752, was in Edinburgh in 1760, and died in 1767, which gives us a window.
In any case, if Sir Stuart kept his 1745 Highland costume into the 1750s and 1760s he could have donned it for the portrait, otherwise the artist might have been given reference materials (garments or paintings) to base the costume on. The costume does look a bit earlier than the time-window in which the painting could have been done.
In any case it's a great 18th century depiction of just the sort of sporran that survives in a museum, not a common thing.
About the Alastair Mor sporran, I've studied it and I can't make much sense of how the flap originally looked or how it was constructed. It almost seems to have this kind of flap decoration, but in its case a curved border and a circle or oval in the middle.
Last edited by OC Richard; 13th February 25 at 06:38 AM.
Proud Mountaineer from the Highlands of West Virginia; son of the Revolution and Civil War; first Europeans on the Guyandotte
Bookmarks