Megit (McKechnie Section 1)

Recorded by Jackson (Dictionary), who quotes (in an entry on 'Mr Might') an advertisement, or part of one, reading: `Mr. Might, and an able assistant, cuts exact Likenesses, frame and glass included, for Is. at No. 7, Grafton Street. By a Machine of unerring principles, open 11 till 7.' This wording and address are the same as those on a handbill used by Percival (q.v.) and Lowe c. 1829-30; it is clear that the artist in question was in fact named Megit, recorded in a separate entry by Jackson, with a cross-reference to Percival. This handbill, headed with a profile of ‘The Collegiate', tells us that Megit was working with Percival's gallery in Ireland during the previous year.

It is possible that when Percival disbanded his gallery, Megit, with an assistant, carried on working for a time at 7 Grafton Street, using the machine formerly owned by Percival. On the other hand, since it is not known when Percival ceased work, the excerpt quoted above may have come from one of his handbills.

The advertised price of one shilling (the same as that quoted on Percival's handbills), including frame and glass, is so low that probably only plain black bust-length profiles were offered. These may have been framed in papier mache, but, at this price, perhaps some cheaper form of stained black rectangular frame was used. Any extant silhouettes would probably date from the early 1830s (unless the passage which I have quoted does come from one of Percival's handbills, in which case the likely period would be the 1820s).

There is no record of any separate trade label of Megit, although, if Megit ever worked under his own name, the short advertisement quoted above might have been pasted onto the backs of frames.