You know I've collected portrait miniatures and snuff boxes for many decades. Always interesting, always a glimpse of history and tradition, tiny works of art. This one is a thrill! She's 18th century to perhaps earliest 19th, northern region of France (the costume, lace hat - Normandy to Alsace), and in that small space the artist captures her and items and icons of her life. She winds a very interesting music box, which has a keyboard inside, too. Atop the box rests her pet bird. Fresh blossoms tucked into the low bodice of her dress, representing the flowering of youth to young adulthood. The bird is often a representation of innocence, virginity intact. Uncaged, however, it seems possible it might fly away soon. Sometimes these show an empty bird cage, or a dead bird and the girl's sadness - either of which caution us that there is sadness in the loss of virtue/virginity, too. The story is told within the tiny space of 1 2 1/8" diameter painting, gouache on wafer, and her face (which has a misalignment of eyes from some angles yet not from others), is just 1/2", chin to hairline. Full measurements noted on the photos.
Very good to excellent for age and type. A beveled cover glass still completely in place and protecting the painting. The entire box is fine 200+ year old ivory, including the mat fitting to hold in the painting. RARE that this entire box has no hairline cracks from shrinkage/age, though the ivory is incredibly old. It is quite typical for natural materials to shrink over centuries, and a single age crack is very little in something like this.
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.
