• Title
  Item 1: Portrait miniature of an Officer wearing the uniform of the Marine Corps, possibly Watkin Tench / attributed to Frederick Buck
• Call number
  MIN 578
  
• Level of description
  item
• Date
  
  approximately 1795
• Type of material
  Graphic Materials, Watercolours
• Reference code
  9675380
• Physical Description
  1 watercolour - on ivory - visible oval image 60 x 50 mm, in frame 127 x 107 mm
  
• ADMINISTRATIVE/ BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
  
  In December 1791, Tench sailed for England with the marines in the Gorgon. On his return he was promoted to brevet Major. In November 1794 his ship, the Alexander, 74 guns, under Admiral Rodney Bligh, RN, was captured by the French, and Tench spent six months as a prisoner of war, mostly on parole at Quimper as interpreter to Bligh. In 1795 he returned to to Plymouth. He served for the rest of the war in the Channel Fleet in the Polyphemus and Princess Royal, being promoted brevet Lieutenant Colonel in 1798
  
  References:
  Fitzhardinge, L.F. "Lieutenant General Watkin Tench." Royal Australian Navy. Accessed 26 June 2023. https://www.navy.gov.au/biography/lieutenant-general-watkin-tench
• Scope and Content
  A miniature portrait of an Officer, possibly Captain Watkin Tench, dressed in uniform.
  
  Watercolour on ivory fixed in gilt mount with a wood and matte black lacquered finish frame, and late nineteenth or early twentieth century case.
• Access Conditions
  
  Access via appointment
• Copying Conditions
  Out of copyright:
  Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
• Description source
  
  Title devised by cataloguer based on report by fine art consultant Emma Rutherford
• Signatures / Inscriptions
  
  Inscribed in 20th century hand 'Captain Watkin Tench, Royal Marines. c 1788. (Expedition to Botany Bay). Uncle by marriage of the Bedford children, whom he and his wife (Mari Sargent) adopted' on verso.
• Attributions / conjectures
  
  This portrait is believed by the Grylls family to be of Watkin Tench, and is attributed to portrait miniaturist Frederick Buck (1771-c.1839/40) by Emma Rutherford, a fine art consultant from Philip Mould & Co. Buck stationed himself in Cork between 1787-1810, and gained commissions from the numerous soldiers who passed through. It is not known whether Buck and Tench would have been in the same place at the same time for the commission to take place. As miniatures are frequently exchanged, it is possible that this portrait is of a friend of Tench, given as a gift. The later inscription on the reverse does not relate to any contemporary inscription on the miniature itself, nor does the miniature appear to have any contemporary commentary from the family on the authenticity of the portrait as Tench.
• Date note
  
  Date earliest (1791) based on Tench's return to England for his marriage. Date latest (1795) based on period Tench joined HMS Alexander as a brevet major.
• Subject
  Great Britain. Royal Navy--Officers--Portraits.
  
• Open Rosetta viewer
  IE20794887

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