A rare pair of Regency carved Derbyshire alabaster cows, circa 1820, in recumbent poses, on Derbyshire black marble plinths, one with remains of original printed paper label to the underside for ‘J. Mawe, Mineralogist,…Museum, Cheltenham, And at 149, Strand, London’.
John Mawe (Derbyshire 1764-London 1829) was a mineralogist. After an apprenticeship with Richard Brown, they set up in 1794 as Brown & Mawe selling objects made from Derbyshire marbles. In 1800 he bought the Royal Museums spar shop in Matlock Bath. His connections with royalty included an order from the king of Spain for a cabinet made of various minerals. Mawe opened his shop in the Strand in 1811. He was elected to the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall in 1813, and received the diploma of the Jena Mineralogischen Gesellschaft in 1817. His shop in Cheltenham was active circa 1816. Mawe died in 1829, his business was carried on by the mineralogist James Tennant in partnership with Mawe’s widow Sarah until 1840. Sarah Mawe had the title of Mineralogist to Her Majesty until she retired.
