(Updated July 2014) Oval miniature in watercolour, [support TBC], in a slightly worn gilt metal oval suspension locket with a loose metal ring fitted in the fixed loop at the top. The back is glazed and holds a finely plaited layer of brown, almost auburn, hair. The sitter is shown bust-length turned partly to his left but looking out at the viewer. He wears a dark blue coat, open over a a blue-spotted white waistcoat with a double row of white or silver buttons, a white neckcloth, and has dark natural hair, curled above his ears and with short sideburns. His eyes are a mid-brown. He is shown against a shoreline background, with a lightly clouded blue sky above, low vegetation to the left, and beach and sea to the right, with the stern of an anchored ship bearing what appears to be a post-1801 red ensign from a staff. The ship is a small one (single deck) and is unrealistic in that a mizzen mast and spars ought to be visible from what is shown of the hull but are not present. The miniature was purchased and presented to the Museum in 1935 as of 'Captain Andrew de la Motte' by 'Paul Jean'. Subsequent correspondence in 1956 with W.H. Hoult, a descendant of the sitter, suggests that he is probably more correctly Andrew Mott, born in 1752, who became a Royal Naval lieutenant in January 1783. He was first lieutenant of the 'Ardent' at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801, after which he was promoted commander (27 April 1801). As such he commanded the hired armed ship 'Prince William' (14 guns) between at least 1807 and 1810, in which on 23 August 1807 he captured the 'St. Jurgen' and on 19 June 1810, the Danish privateer 'Swalen'. He became a post-captain in August 1812, died aged 67 on 19 November 1819 at Grimsby, and was buried there at Clee Church, New Grimsby. While the stern of the ship shown in the miniature is non-specific it could be a vessel of the 'Prince William's' size. Daphne Foskett's 'Dictionary of British Miniature Painters' (1972) only lists the well-known Philip - or Phillipe - Jean (1755-1802) and his pupil and son, Roger (c.1783-1828), who also practised in London and, from 1813, in Norwich. This item certainly has similarity to Philip Jean's work, though not of his best quality, while the two examples of Roger's reproduced by Foskett (vol 2, pl.187) are of such different subjects as to exclude meaningful comparison. It may be that - as apparently with 'de la Motte' - 'Paul' is simply an old mistake for one or the other. If by Philip, however, this item would have to be very late since he died in 1802. A follower or pupil may then be more likely. The curious element is that naval officers are usually depicted in uniform, so the sitter identification also has to remain provisional.