During the 17th and 18th centuries young and not so young men on the Grand Tour would commision souvenir cases for their documents - passports, papers and currency. One usually associates such wallets with the Ottoman Empire, made in Constantinople (Istanbul) and Smyrna (Izmir). As this one was clearly made in Tetuan, Morocco which was not on the Grand Tour, my thinking is that perhaps they were shipped to Istanbul where the gentleman's name was stamped.
Ours was made for Daniel Wray (1701–1783) an English antiquary and Fellow of the Royal Society.
In the wallet was a hand written inked note: Daniel Wray (1701-1783) antiquary, FRS. Among those who have been identified with Junius (DNB) maried Mary Darell, a sister of Elizabeth who married John Jeffreys, (1718-1798) rector of Berkhamstead. Daniel's line died out with him and his inheritance passed through his wife and his sister to John Jeffreys, and his line. The Wray property in Essex was inherited by John Jeffreys of Canteton? jointly with Arthur F Jeffreys of Burkham (Burkham House, Bentworth in Hampshire), and was disposed of by them probably in the 1870s or 80s.
Daniel was born in the parish of St Botolph, Aldersgate, the youngest child of Sir Daniel Wray, a London citizen and soap-boiler (manufacturer), residing in Little Britain. Sir Wray was knighted in 1708, whilst High Sheriff of Essex, where he possessed an estate near Ingatestone. Sir Daniel's son, attended Charterhouse School and Queen's College, Cambridge.
Wray did a six year Grand Tour and a year later was admitted a fellow of the Royal Society, and in 1731 he was incorporated at Oxford. He was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1741 and moved to London. He married Mary Darrell of Richmond.
He contributed to the first volume of Athenian Letters, published by his friends Charles & Philip Yorke. In 1745 Philip Yorke appointed Wray his deputy teller of the exchequer, which he held until 1782. Wray was a keen antiquary and collector of rare books and in 1765 was appointed a trustee of the British Museum. He was buried at St Botolph Without where there is a memorial tablet to him*.
From the collection of the late Mrs June Jeffreys (1928 – 2016) who married George William Eyre Jeffreys (1931 - 2019) in 1960. The house Newhouse, Redlynch, near Salisbury, Wiltshire, had been in the family for 400 years.
The painting of Wray is by Sir Nathanial Holland was is in Queen's College, Cambridge.
A Moroccan gilt-thread embroidered leather wallet belonging to Daniel Wray, of rectangular form with cusped flap, the red morocco leather embroidered in silver thread with a floral spray within a wreath, touches of apricot, blue and green embroidery, the embroidered flap lifting to reveal two soft leather flaps, one coloured soft red, the other buff imprinted (heat process) with stylised shapes, their edges with cut zigzags, a further two very small flaps (for coins), the main pocket with Daniel Wray in silver thread, buff coloured leather lining.
18.8 x 12.1 cm.
The silver is in very good condition. The leather is a little rubbed and could be treated very successfully.
Lady Lever Art Gallery Embroideries Mary Brooke, 1992, p 265-6, b/w ill.
* en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Wray
All images and text © meg-andrews.com 2021
