Title

Rob Roy MacGregor Stand

Date19th Century

Mediumwhale ivory, whale skeletal bone, wood, non-ferrous metal

Dimensions8 1/8 × 12 5/8 × 4 1/2 in. (20.6 × 32.1 × 11.4 cm)

Object number00.235.5

Institutional Credit LineCourtesy of the New Bedford Whaling Museum

DescriptionPanbone and wood stand with two sperm whale teeth, each engraved on both sides. A half-oval wooden platform overlaid with panbone and with a panbone skirt, carved with a scallop-pattern gunwale, polychrome engraved with a leafy vine motif, with the non-ferrous nail fastenings applied as blossoms on the vine, and with a small false drawer carved out of whale ivory; wooden backboard (splashboard) with a double-curved top terminating in a flat scroll at each end; standing on two wooden dowels (possibly not indigenous) and two carved whale ivory feet; the bone platform fastened with non-ferrous nails, and twice pierced to accomodate the bases of two large teeth, each polychrome engraved on the forward surface and inscribed on teh back. Left: Standing figures of a woman and child in feathered Highland headdresses, matching plaid gowns and tartan stockings, surmounted by a peacock perched on a branch, and encircled by a diamond-motif border that follows the contours of the surface of the tooth. Inscribed on verso in a cursive hand: "Helen McGregor / claiming the fealty of the Clan / in Behalf / of her Children". Right: Standing figure of a man in feathered Highland headdress, plaid kilt and blouse, and tartan stockings, holding a stick in his left hand and a knife in his right; surmounted by the head of a 9-point deer, and encircled by a diamond-motif border that follows the contours of the surface of the tooth. Inscribed on verso in a cursive hand: "Rob Roy / Presenting his / dirk to his / Eldest Son." Significant staining; chips with losses.

Based on *Rob Roy*, one of the Waverly Novels by Sir Walter Scott.

On View

Not on view