Edmund Ashfield (fl.1669-1690)

Details
Edmund Ashfield (fl.1669-1690)
Portrait of Sir James Oxenden, bust-length, in an imitation classical costume and a white stock; and Portrait of Lady Arabella Oxenden, bust- length, in a blue and white dress and with a string of pearls
both signed with initials and dated lower right 'EA/1674' and 'EA/1673' respectively; pencil, coloured chalks and bodycolour on buff paper 10½ x 8 5/8in. (268 x 218mm.)
In contemporary Sunderland frames (2)
Provenance
By descent to Basil Oxenden, 1914, and by descent to Lady Capel Cure; Christie's, 20 Nov. 1931, lot 1 (five in the lot) (25 gns. to Pawsey & Payne).
J. Thursby-Pelham.
Mrs Guy Argles and by descent.
Literature
Lady Victoria Manners, The Oxenden Collection, Part II, Connoisseur, XLI, March 1915, p.124, Sir James, illustrated
C.H. Collins-Baker, Notes on Edmund Ashfield, The Walpole Society, London, 1913-14, III, pp.84-86, pls.LXXIII and LXXIV.
The Connoisseur, LVIII, November 1920, p.126, illustrated colour.

Lot Essay

Sir James Oxenden, 2nd Bt., was the first son of Sir Henry Oxenden, who was created Baronet 1676 (died 1686). His wife Arabella was the daughter of the first Earl of Rockingham.
The Sunderland frames date from the third quarter of the 17th Century and are the English version of Dutch auricular Lutma frames. They were named after Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland, who had many of his paintings framed in this style.

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