Royal Gift: Cigarette Case from Duke of York to Tom Roberts
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A Royal gift to Tom Roberts, presentation cigarette case, a Victorian silver gilt cigarette case, maker's mark of Alfred Clark, London, 1900, inset with a gilt commemorative medal and engraved to the reverse: 'To / Tom Roberts Esq. / from / HRH / the Duke of Cornwall / and York / Sydney / 1st June 1901', in original red morocco box with gilt crest of Duke of York and marked 'Clark / 20 old Bond Street'. 8 x 6.5 cm. Provenance: Private Collection, Sydney. Other Notes: This cigarette case was presented as a gift to famed Australian artist Tom Roberts from his Royal Highness the Duke of York and Cornwall (later King George V) in 1901 as a token of appreciation for painting the 'Big Picture'?officially titled 'The opening of the first Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia by his Royal Highness the Duke of Cornwall and York, 9 May 1901'. This painting depicts the first-ever sitting of the Australian Parliament, held not in Canberra, but at the Royal exhibition building in Melbourne. It was commissioned by the Australian Art Association Proprietary Ltd and presented to King Edward VII on 3 July 1904 as a gift from the Commonwealth of Australia. Hanging at St James's Palace until 1957, when it was placed on permanent loan to Parliament house, Canberra where it can still be viewed today. The 'Big Picture' is monumental in size measuring 358.4 x 504.3 cm and includes 269 portraits of the people who attended the historic occasion. Including the Governor-General, the members of the Senate and house of Representatives, and Australia's first Prime Minister, Edmund Barton. Roberts had a well-established reputation as a portrait artist, and to achieve all of these likenesses, he travelled to Sydney and London to make individual sketches of the key figures in the painting. He noted each person's height, weight, and even hat size. Roberts received a handsome fee of 1,000 guineas to complete the work, and the commission appealed to his sense of history. Nevertheless, two years of work to complete the painting took their toll, damaging his eyesight and health.
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- Victorian Period - The Victorian period of furniture and decorative arts design covers the reign of Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1901. There was not one dominant style of furniture in the Victorian period. Designers used and modified many historical styles such as Gothic, Tudor, Elizabethan, English Rococo, Neoclassical and others, although use of some styles, such as English Rococo and Gothic tended to dominate the furniture manufacture of the period.
The Victorian period was preceded by the Regency and William IV periods, and followed by the Edwardian period, named for Edward VII (1841 ? 1910) who was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India for the brief period from 1901 until his death in 1910. - George V - George V (1865 ? 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 1910 until his death in 1936.
- Edward Vii - Edward VII (1841 ? 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 1901 until his death in 1910. He was the first British monarch of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, which was renamed the House of Windsor by his son, George V.
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