CARNELIAN AGATE FIGURE OF GUANYIN 19TH-20TH CENTURY 十九至二十世紀 瑪瑙雕觀音立像 the Avalokiteshvara carved standing on a lotus podium, left hand before the chest with a vase, right hand holding a rosary, the benevolent face smiling, all before a flaming aureole (12.2cm high) Qty: (1) Provenance: By descent- Private Scottish collection, Harrietfield, Kelso; previously from the family estate bought in 1847, Newton Don, Kelso. Newton Don lies in the lowland hills near Kelso, overlooking the Eden Water, a tributary of the Tweed. It owes its name to the Don family who first acquired the former manorial lands of Newton around 1648. Sir Alexander Don inherited the estate and baronetcy in 1776 and over the next forty years the family brought about significant change. The Dons sought to expand the pleasure grounds and to create a secluded, fashionable, country seat and by 1800, a visitor described the estate as a ‘remarkably pretty, cheerful place’. Between 1817 and 1820 renowned English architect Sir Robert Smirke (1781-1867) made considerable alterations to the eighteenth-century house, for which Robert Adam had prepared the original plans. Unfortunately, the transformation had strained the family coffers to such an extent that the estate was sold in 1847. Harrietfield was the farmhouse of the Newton Don estate home farm. It may have been built after the marriage of Lady Harriet Cunningham to Alexander Don in 1778, hence the name.