In this evocative still life, artist Kerrie Creighton bridges historical discovery and painterly storytelling, rendering relics uncovered while mudlarking near Dunbar Castle in Scotland—the site where Mary, Queen of Scots was held before her controversial marriage to James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell.
The composition centers on two fragments of local history brought back to the light: a weathered Charles II coin bearing the royal cypher (“CR”) and a heavy lead musket ball. Resting beside a gleaming spearhead against a dramatic crimson drape, these artifacts evoke the turbulent conflict and royal intrigue embedded in the Dunbar coastline.
Inscribed below is the iconic motto, “IN FINE MEO PRINCIPIVM EST” (“In my end is my beginning”), inextricably linked to Mary, Queen of Scots. Executed in a classical vanitas tradition, the painting honors the journey of forgotten objects—buried for centuries by tide and earth, only to be reclaimed and given new life through art.
Presented in antique French frame.