Blair Castle, walled garden. View of sundial with figure of Time by John Cheere 1743.

Description Blair Castle, walled garden. View of sundial with figure of Time by John Cheere 1743.

Date 1973

Catalogue Number PT 4422

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 763908

Scope and Content Sundial, Blair Castle, Perth & Kinross This shows a lead sculpture representing 'Time'. He is depicted as a bearded old man kneeling under the weight of a large brass sundial. He is shown with wings to represent how 'time flies'. His cracked foot shows the hollow lead construction of the piece. The base is inscribed: 'Geo Adams at Tycho Brahe's head in Fleet St. London 1743', the name and address of the maker of the sundial, and the lead sculpture was made by John Cheere (1709-87). John Cheere had a shop in London with a yard filled with lead, hardened plaster and marble statuary from which clients like James, 2nd Duke of Atholl could choose such sculptures as: 'Bustos of Poets', 'Ye four Seasons', 'two dogs in metal painted like life' or a 'Hay makeing Man'. Many of these survive today in the castle gardens. Blair Castle, the seat of the Dukes of Atholl, was begun in 1269, extended in the 15th and 16th centuries, and remodelled to resemble a Georgian mansion by architect James Winter in the mid-1700s. The south-east wing was built in 1743-5, and rebuilt to include a clock-tower to designs by architect Archibald Elliot in 1814 after a fire. The castle was 're-baronialised' to designs by architect David Bryce in 1869-71, who also designed the ballroom (1826-7). It was modified again in 1886 (J C Walker), 1904-5 (J McIntyre Henry) and 1920-1 (Sir Robert Lorimer). Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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