Lot 158: Minna Margaret Roderick O'Conor née Hope-Scott (d.1934), wearing beaded and embroidered evening coat over fawn-coloured gown and white chemise, pearl necklace, her brown hair upswept

Minna Margaret Roderick O'Conor née Hope-Scott (d.1934), wearing beaded and embroidered evening coat over fawn-coloured gown and white chemise, pearl necklace, her brown hair upswept. Watercolour on ivory, signed on the obverse and dated, C.T/ 1887, gold frame with rim and suspension loop to the obverse of blue and white enamel, the reverse glazed to reveal a lock of brown wavy hair, the rim to the reverse engraved, NICHOLAS RODERICK FROM MINNA A BIRTHDAY PRESENT. SOFIA. JULY 3^RD 1887./ PAINTED BY CHARLES TURRELL, fitted red leather travelling case with easel stand to the base. Oval, 96mm (3 3/4in) high

Minna was the eldest daughter of James Robert Hope-Scott, QC (1812–1873) and his second wife, Lady Alexandrina Fitzalan-Howard (1840–1870). She married the Rt. Hon. Sir Nicholas Roderick O'Conor, PC, GCB, GCMG (1843-1908) of County Roscommon on 13 April 1887. The couple had three daughters; Fearga (1892-1969), Muriel (b.1894) and Eileen (b.1897). Eileen married Prince Matyla Ghyka of Romania at the Brompton Oratory in 1918. The present lot was gifted from Minna to Sir Nicholas during their first year of residence in Sofia where Sir Nicholas was serving as Agent and Consul-General to Bulgaria. In later years, the strain of his work with the Ottoman Empire proved too much for his already fragile health to bear and Sir Nicholas died at the British Embassy in Constantinople on 19 March 1908. He is buried in the cemetery at Haydar Pasha, where Minna erected a monument to his memory.