Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Portrait Miniature on Ivory of Captain J. R. Shaw, 1st Royal Lancashire Militia 1837, by Sir William John Newton (1785-1869), an exceptionally fine depiction of near half length (11x8.5 cms), the subject wears a scarlet coatee, gold epaulettes, gold lace stand-up collar this bearing on the sitter’s left hand side a large white rose, gilt buttons set in pairs; the whole mounted in an ornate gilded frame this with rococo border featuring swags and floral sprays in turn set in a glazed ebony frame. A reverse paper in contemporary writing states ‘J R Shaw Esqre./Mr. J. Newton/Pinxit/Miniature Painter in Ordinary to their Majesties/6 Argyle Street/1837’, very fine overall condition, a possible contemporary minor repair in the top left hand corner £300-500

Note: John Ralph Shaw (1811-84) served as a Captain in the 1st Royal Lancashire Militia. He lived at Arrow Park, Chester, and was married in 1837. Sir William John Newton specialised in miniature portraits and was one of the most fashionable artists of his day. He was appointed Miniature-Painter in Ordinary to William IV and Queen Adelaide in 1831, and from 1837 to 1858 held the same post under Queen Victoria. He was knighted in 1837.