A beautiful portrait miniature of a woman from the Louis XVI era, France, and the culture of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette which has been long protected beneath the convex cover glass in its original lathe-turned ivory snuff box. I'm uncertain of this one. It could be as early as period (c.1770), or could be a souvenir of half a century later (c.1800-1840) as a Grand Tour souvenir. Most of the latter are not quite as beautifully painted as this one, and are also images of quite historically recognizable historical figures, which confuses the date. I don't recognize her from all of my art history and art museum time (considerable is understatement).
Very good to excellent condition for age and type. The box is exceptionally nice, a single flaw to the encirclement band into which the mounted portrait miniature is set (see it as about the 11:30 p.m. position, visible on the top views throughout. I did not take the portrait out so all photos are through the convex glass, showing a glare of lights here or there. The box is 3" in diameter and 1" thick. Closes smoothly, no warp. Very fine quality.
IMPORTANT NOTE regarding antique tortoise shell or ivory: We are great supporters of protection for endangered species in our modern world. We never buy or sell anything 100 years or newer; we donate to anti-poaching organizations; we don't hunt; we conserve in ways that impact global warming (we're totally solar at home), knowing those measures also protect the animals in the wild today. We also recognize the vast cultural history we preserve with our care and reverence for these antique objects, and agree with CITES that objects over 100 years of age have nothing whatsoever to do with species depletion in our current world.
Our offering exceeds the age limitation of "more than 100 years of age", and is well within the exemption for CITES regulation. If imported, met the CITES regulation. This item will be handled and shipped from our Utah business, and is not available for shipment internationally, nor within the USA to California, NY, Nevada, Hawaii, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington if it contains ivory, sorry. Please see our small print for more details.
