Late 17th century English portrait of 'Mother Louse’, said to be the last woman in the country to wear a ruff, £2800 from Castlegate House.
The owners of Castlegate House Art Gallery in Cumbria have launched another, separate business specialising in British folk art, delft, slipware, early porcelain and other antiques: British Centuries.
"It very much mirrors what we live with,' says owner Steve Swallow, who runs the business with his wife Christine. "While very separate from Castlegate House, it nonetheless represents the same obsessiveness which took us many years ago from collector to dealer.'
The stock of the new firm includes this late 17th century English portrait of 'Mother Louse’, said to be the last woman in the country to wear a ruff.
She ran the alehouse known as Louse Hall, which had previously been an asylum for the poor. Properly named Gosford Hospital in Oxfordshire, established in the 12th century, it was dubbed Louse Hall from around the 1540s. The nickname of the former asylum passed not only to the alehouse but also to the innkeeper. Mother Louse was the subject of a satirical poem, which accompanied a similarly composed etching of the late 17th century, and which bears the same coat of arms bearing three lice and a tankard.
The oil on canvas is priced at £2800.
