Watercolour. 11¼ by 8¼ in.
The firm owes its origin to a notable man, James Christie, who issued
his first catalogue in 1766. A portrait of him, painted by his friend
Gainsborough, originally a good advertisement of the skill of the
artist, was long hanging in the “great auction rooms” on the south side
of Pall Mall, where Christie took up his quarters, next to Schomberg
House. It was afterwards at the present address, No. 8 King Street,
St. James’s, to which the firm moved in 1824. They now only have an
engraving of it. Rowlandson drew another caricature of an auction
sale at Christie’s.
By T. ROWLANDSON (1756-1827).
_Lent by Messrs. Christie, Manson, and Woods._