William Pitt and Elizabeth Windham

This may be an ivory commemorating the marriage of William Pitt, the Elder, 1st Earl of Chatham with Elizabeth Windham in 1736. The back is inscribed 'WILL. PITT. ARMIG. [armigerous]/ ELIZ WINDHAM./1736'. The male subject wears a panther skin, perhaps suggesting Dionysian undertones. However the literature on William Pitt, the Elder, 1st Earl of Chatham, contains no reference though to a marriage earlier than the one with Hester Grenville in 1754. Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Wyndham and sister of Charles, second Earl of Egremont, was in fact married in 1749 to George Grenville (b. 1712; d. 1770), the Statesman. It is possible that the William Pitt represented is not Chatham but a contemporary of the same name. Burke's Peerage of 1880 under Lord Rivers records a William Pitt who died without issue in 1774. He was the eldest son (by his second marriage) of George Pitt, M.P. of Strathfieldsaye, who died in 1734. The authorship of this finely carved piece is unknown. It is in the tradition of the works of David Le Marchand, and may be by a Continental sculptor working in Britain.