Portrait of a Man

Unknown owner, by May 21, 1953 [1];

Purchased from the unknown owner’s sale, Portrait Miniatures, Rare Table Clocks, Watches, and Other Objects of Vertu, Sotheby’s, London, May 21, 1953, lot 62, as A Man, by Leggatt Brothers, London, probably on behalf of Mr. John W. (1905–2000) and Mrs. Martha Jane (1906–2011) Starr, Kansas City, MO, 1953–1958 [2];

Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1958.

Notes

[1] In the 1953 sales catalogue, “Various Properties” sold lots 12–78.

[2] Described in the catalogue as “A Miniature of a Man, by Andrew Plimer, signed and dated 1785, head and gaze three-quarters sinister, powdered hair en queue, wearing a white cravat and bright blue coat, oval, 1 5/8 in., inset in a circular composition Snuff Box, 2 3/4 in.” The sales is located at the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Miller Nichols Library and is likely annotated by Mr. or Mrs. Starr with a circled lot number, “£24,” and “67.20.” Leggatt Brothers bought lot 62 for 24 pounds. Archival research has shown that Leggatt Brothers served as purchasing agents for the Starrs. See correspondence between Betty Hogg and Martha Jane Starr, May 15 and June 3, 1950, Nelson-Atkins curatorial files.