GEORGE CHINNERY (BRITISH 1774-1852) Portrait miniature of an unknown Gentleman, circa 1802 wearing black suit, white waistcoat and tied cravat Watercolour on ivory Gilt-mounted rectangular black papier-mâché frame Oval 70mm (2 3/4 in) high Provenance: Robert Bayne Powell Collection Exhibited: Comerford Collection at the Irish Architectural Archives, Dublin, 2009 Literature: The Comerford Collection: Portrait Miniatures, (privately published, Dublin, 2009); pp 8, 31 (#101); Paul Caffrey, John Comerford and the Portrait Miniature in Ireland c. 1620-1850, at the Kilkenny Archaeological Society, 1999, p.50, Number 71, illustrated in colour p.40. Chinnery was born in London and exhibited at the Royal Academy. He moved to Ireland in 1796, where he enjoyed some success as an artist, and married Marianne (nee Vigne) on the 19th April, 1799 in Dublin. Chinnery returned to London in 1801 without his wife and two infant children. In 1802 he sailed to Madras (Chennai) on the ship Gilwell. He established himself as a painter there and then in Calcutta where he became the leading artist of the British community in India.