The Portraiture of Old Partner

Dateca. 1760

Engraver Henry Roberts (active 1730 - 1790)

After work by James Roberts (ca. 1725 - 1799)

OriginEngland, London

MediumEtching and line engraving

DimensionsOverall: 8 7/16 × 5 1/4in. (21.4 × 13.3cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1961-249

DescriptionUpper right corner: "9"
Text reads: "The PORTRAITURE of OLD PARTNER./ This most Excellent Horse well known to Sportsmen as well as Breeders / is allow'd to be as fine a Stallion as any ever bred in this Kingdom & / not inferior to any Foreign one, as appears by the great Number of fine / Horses of his get he was got Jigg Son of the Byerly Turk and bred / by Sr. Pelham his Dam was got by the Curwen Bay Barb, his Grandam / by Old Spot his great Grandam by the Chestnut White Legg'd Lowther Barb / out of the Old Nitner which was of great Note. /On the 2d of April when rising 5 Years Old he beat Sr. Robert Faggs Baxter / of the same Age & gave him 2st the 1st of May following he beat Lort Drogheda's / Tipler of the same Age and gave him half a stone, May the 14 1724 he beat / the Duke of Bolton's Sloven and gave him 10th weight for the Year. May 11th / 1726 he beat the same Horse Sst & a 1/2 each these where all the Matches he won / as was Certified by Esq. Crofts Barforth Octr. 31. 1751."
Label TextFlying Childers was a British Thoroughbred racehorse who raced in the 1720s from whom some horses that were imported to Virginia in the 18th century were descended. The print comes from a collection of forty engravings after the work of James Roberts and engraved by Henry Roberts entitled "The Sportsman's Pocket Companion" published around 1760. Though the horses were drawn by James Roberts, they were likely after other paintings and prints of famous racehorses. The majority of the horses represented in the prints raced between 1708-1755. The collection was originally bound, but the title page stated that "This Work is Contrived that it may be Framed & Glazed in various Sizes, & will make most elegant & pleasing Furniture."

Verse reads:
"This most excellent Horse well known to Sportsmen as well as Breeders
is allow'd to be as fine a Stallion as any ever bred in this Kingdom &
not inferior to any Foreign one, as appears by the great Number of fine
Horses of his get he was got Jigg Son of the Byerly Turk and bred
by Sr. Pelham his Dam was got by the Curwen Bay Barb, his Grandam
by Old Spot his great Grandam by the Chestnut White Legg'd Lowther Barb
out of the Old Nitner Mare which was of great Note.
On the 2d of April when rising 5 Years Old he beat Sr. Robert Faggs Baxter
of the same Age & gave him 2st the 1st of May following he beat Lort Drogheda's
Tipler of the same Age and gave him half a stone, May the 14 1724 he beat
the Duke of Bolton's Sloven and gave him 10th weight for the Year. May 11th
1726 he beat the same Horse Sst & a 1/2 each these where all the Matches he won
as was Certified by Esq. Crofts Barforth Octr. 31. 1751"