Hunter, Thomas (McKechnie Section 1)

Recorded by Jackson (Dictionary). Hunter was a cutter of heraldic and other pieces in white paper who may also have cut silhouettes.

Hunter worked in Edinburgh, and Jackson owned one example of his work which was signed, with the addition of the sitter's age (eighty-four years) and the date: 1798. Two other examples, dated 1786, are in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

There seems to be no evidence to identify Hunter with the Irish artist, T. Hunter, who was principally a painter of miniatures and crayon portraits, known to have been working in Co. Armagh in c. 1787, and to have exhibited chalk drawings at the Society of Artists in William Street, Dublin, in 1775 and 1777.

The example of Hunter's work owned by Jackson represented an elaborate shield, complete with a lion rampant; the mantling was finely cut, as were the crest, which was a boar's head chained, and the motto: ‘courage sans peur’. Some of the heraldic effects were obtained by pricking with a pin. The whole was enclosed in a decorative border. The size of the piece was 8 x 41/2 in.

The two examples in the Victoria and Albert Museum (Nos E.115.1928 and E.116.1928) were presented by Queen Mary. One represents the Lord's Prayer in cut lettering, surrounded by a simple scrolled border. The other piece, which is similar, represents the Creed, and is enclosed within a squared checkered surround. Both pieces are pages from a book given by Mrs R. Hughes, at the age of seventy-one, to ‘my dear daughter Mrs. Frederick Gy’'. Each measures 41/2 in.

Hunter cut his signature, and the date, as part of the actual piece he had executed. It seems to have been his normal practice to include the date with his signature.