Interior Detail of wash hand basin Digital image of SU/809

Description Interior Detail of wash hand basin Digital image of SU/809

Date 1982

Catalogue Number SC 772670

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of SU 809

Scope and Content Wash-hand basin, Skibo Castle, Highland This shows a wash-hand basin, possibly made from fireclay, which has a transfer pattern of wild flowers on the inside and which has been encased in marble. Beneath the sink there is a marble inset which would have protected the mosaic floor from water splashes. The tiles on the wall, the mosaic floor and the marble would have been easy for the maids to keep clean. Even with the development of fitted bathrooms the Victorians continued to use washstands on which a toilet set was placed. Toilet sets mainly consisted of a chamberpot, basin, ewer (jug), soap holder and toothbrush holder. The housemaids would be expected to daily provide fresh water in the jug and clean these sets. Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) was born in Scotland and made a fortune in the steel industry in the United States of America. Once his daughter was born he decided that she should have a Scottish home, and at the end of the 19th century he bought a large Baronial house at Skibo built in 1880 by Clarke & Bell. In addition to the £85,000 purchase price, he spent a further £2 million in the creation of an even larger mansion, constructed between 1899 and 1903 to the designs of Ross & Macbeth. In 1981 his daughter Margaret decided to sell the estate, and the castle lay empty until 1990 when Peter de Savary paid £10 million for the castle and the 2,832-hectare estate. Some £30 million was then invested in its transformation into the Carnegie Club, a private residential golf and sporting club. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/772670

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap