Latest 1700s to perhaps 1800, this is a stunning miniature portrait of a girl, face only 5/8" from chin to her hairline, yet so beautifully crafted by the artist, miniaturist, we can fill your screen with the enlargement and embrace every feature, to the shine in her blue-gray eyes, and the slight indentation shadow that forms her lips. In the manner of later 1700s, the painting was done in an outdoor or landscape setting, and she wears hair and flower crown in a fashion of her time. A little patch box, I think, no evidence of snuff, and without typical inner liner of tortoise shell. Too small to be a powder box. A sweet souvenir for a parent? The girl looks to be about 7-10 years old. Full measurements noted on the photos.
Very good to excellent, a museum quality piece. I have not gold-tested the mount and I have not removed her from the box lid (making testing without scraping surface so much easier). It has the look of 18k but without testing, I'm not certain of it. For the era, it would be expected in a piece this nice, as well. The single flaw I can point out is the very tight fine hairline at bottom of the top half, quite small considering age and material's tendency to shrink and crack with age. There isn't a separation, so either very nicely restored or it's only a surface hairline, not spreading. Painting is protected under clean original convex and polished cover glass. Note that we've taken all photos through that slight distorting cover glass, and still she's clear and perfect. Clean glass, as well. I left the old stamps on and inside, though I haven't translated. I do not find a signature on this stunning painting, either. Lost to time. All we have is her portrait.
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.
