A beautiful blond and blue-eyed child's portrait in miniature, set into the lid of a large table snuff box. She's pretty, straight-forward in gaze and dressed in a shirred bodice blue gown with puff sleeves. Perhaps the child of the artist. Portrait miniatures of children are quite rare, comparatively, and sometimes remain as memento of a child who was lost to illness in young years. Measurements always appear also on our photos. This box is a larger table snuff size at 3 1/2" diameter, and is 1 1/4" tall when closed. The portrait is 2" in diameter. That beautiful face is only 5/8" chin to hairline. I do not see an artist's signature.
Very good condition for age and type. This box has been well-treasured, but has a flaw to the inner thin wood lip as you can see. It still is a wonderful portrait, gouache on thin wafer, typical of the era and genre. She is covered by the original convex cover glass, and when closed for display, you see no evidence of damage whatsoever. Lathe-turned wood, beautiful grain to it.
